When the Lightning Strikes
by Toshiku Yumari
Summary: Masumi Chano is misfit in the human world; perhaps it has something to do with the Holy Ring her father gave her as a child. Masumi doesn't remember much about her past, but her memory starts to return to her once she gets involved with DATS. And as new foes begin to show, she finds that the most dangerous keys needed to secure man's survival have been lost in her mind. Marcus/OC
1. Chapter 1: In the Beginning

**I'm alive! I ALIIIIIIVVEEEE! Lol, Frankenstein reference XD (oh, how I wish I could've posted that closer to Halloween D: that would've been perfect *snifflesniffle* **

**Lol but the point is that I'm back! I'm not dead, I have not abandoned these stories, and I'm going to re-start my life on this site by giving you guys a BRAND NEW STORY I've been working on! Well, lately I've just been brainstorming and wasting time watching scary/funny stuff on Youtube (do you guys know who PewDiePie is? If you do, let me know in your review and we can bond :D), but I've been meaning to work on this stuff. And I will be, I promise. I promise...*awkward silence...cricket* XD Daw, I love crickets. They is bros of mine :3**

**Okay, okay, I know that Digimon Data Squad/Savers isn't a very popular season, but I will speak the truth right here right now: I LOVE THIS SEASON TO DEATH! I don't know why, but I just do. It's so amazing, and it makes me so happy and sad and AW~! that I could just about choke myself with joy. Seriously. Now, I'm perfectly okay with people not liking it, but please don't hate on it if you don't back it up with a reason why. I mean, that just hurts the people who do like it, and they don't go around saying that the stuff that you like is crap, so don't do it to them. Okie? Okie :D**

**Now that I've given you a lesson on morals lol, I would like to say that I'm sorry that I've been so slow on updating stuff (like, close to 3 months? I think? Oh, I so sorry! :') but I'm going to try my best to pick up the speed and work as hard as I can on my stuff.**

**With that said, please enjoy the first chapter of my newest story!**

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Chapter 1: At the Beginning

"All right, Masumi," I watched the principal of my school closely as he talked, incredibly entertained by the throbbing vein in his forehead and neck. He was so pissed at me; it was hilarious. "I've heard from a couple of students and a number of teachers today, and all of them have been talking about this little rumor flying around the school. I thought that I would be fair and get your side of the story as well, so…

"Why in the world would half the school think that you have a _painted ostrich egg_ in your locker?" I lifted my hand to rub at my mouth, trying to hide the broad smile forming on my lips. Breathing was currently out of the question, seeing how if I did start again, I would burst out laughing as if someone invisible was tickling me. It could be pretty entertaining sometimes, how thousands upon thousands of people had no knowledge of Digimon even after all of the sightings and serious matters concerning them.

Yes. There was a Digi-Egg in my locker.

Why? Well, like any other fifteen-year-old would, I blamed accidental oversleeping—not to mention, my Digimon partner's inability to wake me up. Having been exhausted from my judo class the evening before, I was too scatter-brained to remember to set my alarm clock, and Dracomon (who was the _strangest_ green dragon Digimon with horns to have ever lived) had slept even longer than I had, so I probably wouldn't have gotten up at all if the creature hadn't kicked me in his sleep and sent me tumbling onto the floor.

Having been awake at that point, I'd checked the clock and had to do a double-take to register that I was seriously going to be late for school when it was only about two miles from my home. Without bothering to wake Dracomon (it wasn't like I could take him to school with me anyway. Well, I could, but…), I threw on my school uniform, and started running my fingers through my dark brown hair to try and make it look somewhat presentable as I pretty much jumped down the stairs.

While I was running to school, my bag thumping against my side in the most aggravating way, my mind was scolding itself for not having been attentive the night before. If I had been, I wouldn't have forgotten about my clock, I wouldn't have gotten a new bruise thanks to my Digimon's dream-kicking. I'd been wondering what else I might've forgotten/screwed over when my clumsy nature took over and I ended up getting a good-morning-kiss from the sidewalk. Needless to say, I wasn't pleased by the unexpected reunion, having already said hello to my floor earlier.

About to jump to my feet and continue my dash to make the final bell, my gaze had wandered to the alleyway on the opposite side of the street—heaven knows why—and something odd caught my eye. There, sitting on someone's doorstep, was a silver and red Digi-Egg. Just…out in the open, as if someone had set it there so it could get some fresh air, or people watch.

After glancing around to make sure that no one was coming to claim the egg, I rushed over to the threshold, scooped up the egg, and continued on to my school. Not one thought about how weird this scene would look crossed my mind until I came through the front doors a few minutes before the last bell was supposed to ring. It was about then that my mind returned to being rational and I realized that I was carrying a giant egg, and no one but me would have any idea what it truly was.

Despite it being so close to the beginning of the first class, there were a fair number of people out wandering aimlessly around the hallways, talking and laughing in obnoxious tones. Almost everyone turned and stared completely dumbstruck as I walked past, but it was obvious that they were gawking at the egg I was carrying.

I got a lot more weird looks and noted a couple of whispered, 'What the hell does she have a _freaking egg_ for, man'-type comments as I went to my locker and placed the hopefully-wouldn't-be-ready-to-hatch-anytime-soon egg on the bottom shelf. If it did hatch in my locker…well, I had never experienced what it was like to have one of those things hatch, so…hopefully it was somewhat…you know, quiet and unnoticeable.

A slight worry had popped into my head before I'd walked away, though, and that was that there was a small chance that someone's curiosity might get the better of them and they would come and steal the egg. Unable to go about my school day with that circling my brain like a buzzard on steroids, I did the smart thing and put the padlock that all of the students were issued on—

"Ms. Chano! Pay attention when I'm talking to you!" I jumped slightly when the principal's voice suddenly roared into my thoughts, tearing me from them like an overprotective father would his teenage daughter from her bad-boy boyfriend. "If you don't give me a good reason for all of this nonsense, so help me…" Judging by his gravelly tone and the way that I could not see each and every throb in the vein I'd been watching before, he was a little angry.

Raising both of my hands before me in a sort of 'I'm unarmed' fashion, I allowed a calm grin to show on my face. Maybe it would portray confidence in my story. "Well, sir, I can explain," I lied, trying to keep my tone believable. "You know how watermelon farmers have been experimenting with making the fruit different shapes and everything? Well, what you think is an ostrich egg is actually one of the first watermelon to be grown that's an abnormal color by genetic…stuff.

"I know the guy who's been working on this, so he gave me one of the first of his harvest so I could show it around to people I know and spread the word. So," I crossed my arms before my red-blazer-clad chest in a defiant manner and sat back in the chair situated before the mahogany-shaded wood desk. My tone and grin were slightly mocking, drawing out what little luck I had to insult the man under the radar. "Does that answer your question, sir?"

For a moment, there was complete silence except for the humming of his computer and the ticking of the clock on the wall. The balding mad stared at me like he had just witnessed me shove a knife up my nose and pull it out through my tear duct without so much as a scrape or a hesitation. He obviously hadn't been expecting such a response. Maybe the part about how it wasn't an egg, but definitely not the main part of the explanation.

After the stillness went on for a minute or so, the man shook his head in shock and waved his hand at me as a dismissal. "Just…take _whatever it is_ out of your locker, and don't bring it back." While the man rubbed at his exasperated face with his hands and tried to get a grip on what had just occurred, I gave a small 'okie' noise before standing, shouldering my bag, and leaving his office to go collect my things. Namely, that 'oddly colored watermelon'.

I doubt that there was another person in the world who was as pleased with themselves as I was right about now.

I trekked back to my locker, which was, ironically, only a twenty-or-so-meter-long straightaway from the very office that I'd left moments before. It was almost like the man making up all of the schedules and whatnot had this intuitive notion that I was going to be heading in that general direction pretty often, so why not make it a simple walk to and from my locker? _I feel like I should be insulted. But I don't care enough to be._

Knowing that the school day had been over for a little while now, I wasn't surprised when I glanced around and saw that the hallways were pretty desolate except for a few stragglers waiting for rides. Most were either gone (the lucky suckers), in some sort of club/group-gathering thingy, or at one of the spring athletics practices. But, people or no people, it was about time I took that egg back to my house to figure out what the hell to do with the thing.

I struggled with the padlock that I had once thought was a good idea, but was no beginning to wonder if it would end up being one of the worst mistakes I ever made. Nevertheless, I was eventually able to open the darn thing and get the other-worldly, eventual-hatchling out of the small metal space. Sometimes, I couldn't help but wonder why lockers looked the way they did; they always reminded me of miniature prisons. Not sure why…

Holding the vividly colored youngling close to me to keep it somewhat warm, I shifted the strap of my bag so I wouldn't have to steady it, and headed for the closest exit. I kicked the push-open door open since my hands were busy with the egg, shuddering slightly when a light sheet of freezing rain blasted into my face, the precipitation carried to and fro by a soft breeze. I paused briefly to wrap my jacket around the egg a bit tighter before pacing out into the wet, wet world.

My feet were soaked about three seconds following the point that I left the warm, dry high school where I was a first year student. I wasn't sure how, but I always found a way to step in every single puddle that formed on the sidewalk, no matter how hard I tried to avoid them. It was as if I had magnets in my shoes that were attracted to water instead of metal. And knowing my teachers, they would do that to us students just for giggles.

I mean, it's not like they have any reason _not_ to.

It was pretty easy to imagine my Science and Mathematics teachers teaming up to do something like that. They were both pretty good teachers, sure, but there was something…devious and evil about them…something that you didn't really see, but you sort of felt it when you walked into the classroom. Granted, the Science guy might seem that way because there was a human skeleton in his room, not to mention a bunch of other dead things in rubbing alcohol in the cabinets, but still. The Math teacher…well, he's a _Math_ teacher. It's a given that they're plotting _something_ mischievous.

The sound of car tires behind me snapped me out of my reverie of malevolent high school staff just in time for me to quickly turn away from the road as the passing car sprayed up all kinds of mud and rain from the street and onto me. The ordeal certainly got me all wet and had turned my uniform into a polka-dot pattern of mud, but I'd kept the egg dry and safe. _Speaking of which…_

I still had no idea what the heck I was going to do with the thing. It wasn't like I could hatch it on my own—what would I do with the little Digimon until it grew up? What would I do with it when it _did_ grow up? I had enough on my plate just taking care of Dracomon, not to mention the difficult time I'd had when trying to convince Mrs. Sasaki that he was safe to be around. I don't think that she would be able to handle having two Digimon roaming around her house, no matter how cute it might end up being.

If there was one thing I knew about Digimon, it was this: The cuter is, the more trouble it brings. For whatever reason, that's how things seemed to work. Of course, that was after having met only a handful of Digimon—okay, so, maybe it's closer to like…one Digimon—but one could only assume that it was true. There were a few exceptions I knew of, like how most people wouldn't consider Dracomon to be all that cute and yet he was worse than a classroom full of five-year-olds with ADD and sugar highs.

I wasn't sure how he would react to me bringing home another Digimon either. He wasn't the jealous type at all, but he tended to be a bit…oblivious at times. For example, I was forced to introduce him to Mrs. Sasaki because he forgot that we lived with another person and had walked downstairs to raid the refrigerator. He'd also found eating my homework to be a fun pastime (it was a pain in the butt to explain that one to my teacher), and I didn't want him teaching that, or any of his other bad habits, to the new Digimon once it finally hatched.

But Dracomon was my best friend in the entire world, and had been for quite a while now. Other humans and me…well, we really didn't see eye-to-eye on most things. However, Dracomon and I…it was like we were made from the same mold. We were obviously two completely different beings with two variously different personalities (that often clashed, for the record), but there were some things…Nobody understood like he did.

Despite how warm my memories and fond thoughts had made me inside, that heat wasn't enough to keep me from starting to shiver against the chilly breeze that cast more needle-sharp rain into my face. It was at times like these that I wished that I could be more organized like a handful of other kids and actually check what the weather was going to be like before leaving the house so I could be semi-prepared for whatever the day planned to throw at me. Because another coat sounded pretty nice right about now.

The last time that I'd been out in the rain like this…well, I couldn't remember anything all that recent since we'd been getting a fair amount of rain lately, but the last time that I could really picture was a couple of days after having come to live here in Yokohama with Mrs. Sasaki. It had been about a year and a half or so now, but it would be pretty hard to forget a scene like what happened then.

I'd been walking to school like I always did, rain or shine, snow or hail, tornado or otherwise, when a frenzy of noise and shouting came bellowing at me through on of the alleys. I thought at first that there was just some sort of dog fight going on nearby, but when I happened to glance over, I saw something would definitely not be allowed in a normal fight: a Digimon. A huge, blue and white-furred, wolf-like Digimon with a red scarf around its neck.

A bright light had flashed somewhere in front of him, though the source of the sudden brightness had been kept from my eyes by the corner of one of the buildings. However, only a moment or so later, the padding of feet came to my ears in the silence of the steadily falling rain. I then saw the face of a boy that even a blind man with the attention span of a dandelion would be unable to forget.

Golden hair framed a pale face that seemed to glow despite the overcast skies and pouring rain. He was soaked, like someone had taken a couple hundred gallons of water and just drenched the crap out of the guy, but it didn't seem to bother him. His light cerulean eyes, a color far fairer than any other in existence, were fixed upon the extraterrestrial object in his arms: a Digi-Egg, though it was different than the one that I'd found.

There was something about him that was…different. And it wasn't because he was wearing a dark blue Spandex jumpsuit with a jacket to match. It was there in his face, in the ice-blue eyes that gazed up at his Digimon partner with such precision and know-how that I couldn't help but wonder who he was, what he was doing. Maybe it was the fact that he had a Digimon that caught my attention. It wasn't something that one saw every day, that was for sure.

But, somehow, that wasn't quite it either. It wasn't because he was absolutely beautiful, even though he was by far the most gorgeous teen that I'd seen in a long time. This wasn't one of those 'love at first sight' things, which I had always believed was pretty stupid. This was more like one of those 'who-the-hell-is-that-and-why-does-he-have-that-Digi-Egg at first sight' kinda moments.

Those were far more believable, and made a hell of a lot more sense, too.

Either way, I never found out who that guy was or how he got that egg. I hadn't seen him or his Digimon since then, so it didn't really matter all that much. But still, sometimes at night when I could hear the patter-patter of falling rain drops racing each other to see who could drip off of the roof first (or when I was immensely bored during World History), my mind tended to wander back to that day, and I would wonder what exactly kept me from simply walking over and confronting the boy.

Perhaps it was that whole holy-goodness-he-so-pretty thing. That could've messed with my mental processes and by the time I got everything back under control, it was too late and he was already gone. Or it could've been the fact that I subconsciously knew that if I got into a conversation with the guy, then I would most definitely be late for school. Even though that had really never meant all that much to me in the first place.

No matter what the problem had been, it had still ended up being that I was without his name, not to mention any other information about him. But it was an interesting thing, knowing that I wasn't the only person in Yokohama who knew a thing or two about Digimon. And from the looks of it, that blonde teen knew a fair amount, seeing how his Digimon had apparently digivolved, something that Dracomon had never been able to do. Or, at least, had never expressed an interest in being able to do.

I'd thought about the process during Language Arts class a number of times, and brought it up in conversation with the dragon Digimon as well, but neither scene ever came to a true close. Dracomon tended to change the subject rather quickly for a reason I was unsure of but never pried for, and I didn't know enough about the odd enigma to be able to really ponder it. The fact that I had no one to go to if I wanted to ask a question about it didn't help to get it figured out, either.

Nevertheless, it wasn't really necessary for me to know every little thing about the mysterious Digimon-changing process. There were next to no Digimon popping up in the human world, unlike before when I'd hear something about some monster in this town or the other one almost every single day on the news. So, really, there was no reason to need Dracomon to be able to change to and from a bigger, faster, or stronger form.

Besides, if I had a hard time figuring out all this crap about digivolution, I could only imagine how confused Mrs. Sasaki would be when she couldn't find Dracomon but discovered some other gigantic Digimon in his place.

With her look of absolute shock and horror now branded into my brain, I subconsciously turned onto my street and bounded up the steps that led to the threshold. The sound of two women laughing snapped me into attention as I came through the unlocked front door. Mrs. Sasaki usually didn't have company over, and the fact that she would so suddenly and unexpected took me off guard. Whenever one of her friends actually did come over, she normally gave me some kind of warning beforehand, so…this was kinda…weird.

A bit more caution than what I'd exhibited before now laced every movement and thought that my brain sent off. I knew that nothing _really_ bad was going to happen (like the house collapsing in on itself just because we had someone new inside it), but it didn't hurt to be a bit on the careful side when it came to old women. If you walked in at the wrong time, they'd drag you into whatever conversation they were having and force you to sit through it until you were the same age as them. Or older.

Slipping off my shoes and quietly resting the Digi-Egg and my heavy school bag down on the floor, I slid over the polished wood in my socks, heading for the kitchen/dining room where Mrs. Sasaki and her company often sat to chat. I came to a stop beside the open doorway, knowing that my presence hadn't yet been noted, so that meant that I would be able to sneak upstairs to my room now if I tried. However, Mrs. Sasaki was like my mother in only one way: She always made me socialize with the guests for at least thirty seconds before letting me go hide in my room.

It was less embarrassing if I came to greet them myself instead of being called for. Or dragged.

So, with that to embolden me, I slipped quietly around the doorway as another round of high-pitched laughter echoed from the silver-haired woman sitting at the head of the table, Mrs. Amori Sasaki. She'd done her hair up as she always did, in a proper bun; not one single hair ever fell out of place throughout the course of the day with the way that she did it. Her dark green eyes giggled along with her lips while her guest smiled politely at whatever had been said.

The both of them had pearly white tea cups sitting in front of them, though from the looks of it their drinks had already grown cold despite being a quarter of the way full. However, the beverages only held my attention for a moment; the woman residing in the chair Dracomon had claimed as his was far more interest-worthy than the tea. And that was saying something since Mrs. Sasaki had made some pretty funky tea in her day.

I'd never seen anyone quite like her before. She had skin paler than the skin of a man frozen to the bone at the peak of Mount Everest, and hair that was similar except for a slight blue twinge to its shade. A witch-like red and lavender hat ornamented with a gold scarab, along with a pair of sunglasses, hid a good portion of her head and face. Her hands were also hidden by a pair of purple gloves with a spider-web-like design on them. The hat was paired with a deep scarlet dress that had a mini-cape sewn onto the shoulders, a light purple belt accentuating the thinness of her waist.

She snapped to face me within milliseconds of me walking into to doorway, as if she'd been expecting me for some time now. An anxious chill crept up my spine at the hard silence of her eyeless stare, but thankfully it was cut short by Mrs. Sasaki's almost compulsive need to exhibit proper etiquette. "Oh, Masumi, you're home a little later than I expected," The sixty-something-year-old woman gestured to her guest as she lightly scolded me, "but where are your manners? Come over here and introduce yourself.

"This here is Ms. Inekura, a new neighbor of ours as well as my newest employee down at the pharmacy!" Still being a little creeped out by the unexpectedness of this lady's appearance, I didn't move to greet her (or move at all) right away. I was urged by a quick glare from my 'land lord' to do something, though, so I reluctantly shuffled forward and offered the strange woman a polite bow. Much to Mrs. Sasaki's delight, might I add.

While Mrs. Sasaki's beam projected her pride in having been able to teach me how to be 'proper' (for three seconds at the max.), Ms…Inekura, apparently, cast me an almost distracted smile. It was coy and stiff, but could still be read as kind if one looked for it there in her face. "I've heard so much about you already, Masumi, but I didn't expect such a lovely young lady. Now, please don't think that I'm being nosy, but…" She gestured toward the rather large golden bracelet that hung around my still-wet-from-the-rain wrist. "Did someone special give you that? A boy, perhaps?"

I noticeably recoiled at her words, but she didn't take the question back, and Mrs. Sasaki seemed to find my reaction humorous so she didn't tell the woman off. Not that she would've done such a 'rude and vulgar' thing in the first place, but still. I felt a rather embarrassed blush show on my face as I mumbled, "No…I don't have a boyfriend…" My left hand curled up enough to stroke at the cold metal with the tips of my fingers, feeling a bit of comfort at the metallic touch.

The silverette continued to smile sweetly at me as she made a small 'hmm'ing noise. "What a pity. You're far too pretty a girl for it to be wasted like that," A soft sigh fell from her purple-lipsticked mouth as she dropped her chin into her palm and rested her elbow on the tabletop. Her face was clouded by a daydreaming haze as she mumbled wistfully, "Ah, to be young and beautiful…I miss those days, when love was so rich and tender…"

"I know what you mean," Mrs. Sasaki sipped at her chilly tea without flinching at the taste, apparently not noticing due to the depth of her attention in the conversation. Sometimes I wondered about that woman, but I knew that she thought the same of me pretty often, so I didn't feel as bad about it. "My hubby's been gone for a few years now, and I don't plan to ever re-marry—no one could ever replace him, you know?—but I have heard of a lot of dating sites on the Internet _especially_ for seniors, can you believe that?" Her voice took on a high-pitched, squeaky tone as her surprise was conveyed through her jade eyes.

As they began to talk about the horrors of old-people-love, I quietly slipped back out of the room and into the kitchen. Dracomon would be upstairs like he always was whenever there was company (who obviously couldn't know that my best friend was a talking dragon), but I had no way of knowing how long that woman had been here, so I thought it would probably be a good idea to take some food up to my insane little friend. Before he ate the Digi-Egg.

With that horrible image in my mind, I hurried to gather up a platter-full of food, hearing but ignoring a comment from the table about how I kept my figure if I ate all that. A remark that ended up exploding into a huge debate over teens and their never-ending hunger/high metabolism. Which I was overjoyed about not having to sit through, though their current topic wasn't quite as bad as the senior-dating thing. I would choose boredom over therapy any day.

Juggling the food, my recently-retrieved backpack, and the mystery Egg, I dashed upstairs as best I could without spilling/dropping anything (Ms. Inekura made me kinda nervous. I get _really_ clumsy _really_ fast when I get nervous). The second floor of the home was pretty ordinary, with my room, Mrs. Sasaki's room, a bathroom, a small closet, and another bedroom that acted as a guestroom on occasion. My bedroom was the furthest one down the hallway.

The door was partially open when I neared it, and I used my foot to tap it open, the hinges creaking slightly as it swung in. Tossing my backpack in the general direction of my already-made bed and setting the plate of food on my desk along with the Digi-Egg, I called out only loud enough so that I would be heard upstairs but not downstairs, "Dracomon? Where are you?" Dracomon had a tendency to hide whenever human company came around; he was very friendly, but I'd impressed in his mind to stay out of sight, so…he obeyed, but just took it a bit too far.

Meaning my finding skills weren't good enough to be able to figure out where he went half the time.

I was three seconds away from dropping down to look under my bed (that was his favorite spot to go because there were always dust bunnies to play with under there) when a small tapping noise drew my attention to the closet on the other side of the room. Now, I'd see a lot of horror movies in my day, and one rule in those movies is that you never go to investigate weird sounds. But when you have a Digimon who can beat the crap out of pretty much any murderer, ghost, monster, or lunatic, you tend to get a little bolder.

Without hesitating for a moment, I strode over to the smallest of the doors in my room and opened it to find Dracomon sitting there quietly as if he'd been playing hide-and-go-seek with an imaginary friend. And, knowing my Digimon, he would be doing that. "Hello, Sumi-chan!" The teal dragon-like creature chirped rather cheerfully, his tail thumping against the wood floor as he grinned toothily up at me. "You're getting a lot better at finding me, you know. I should make you a gold star!"

I smiled back down at the red-horned Digimon and made a guffawing sound. "I only found you because you were tapping on the door, Dracomon," Removing a yellow sweater from his head, I continued as I tickled his nose, making him sneeze and laugh at the same time. "Most times when you're trying not to be noticed, you don't make a lot of noise. It, what's it called? Oh, yeah. Gives you away." I started to move away from the closet, expecting Dracomon to realize there was food and follow me out.

He stood, but there was an indignant look on his face as he stated innocently, "I wasn't doing anything, Sumi-chan. I had my claws folded the whole—" The dragon-Digimon's attention was drawn away from me in a rush when a smell in the room captured his mind. He turned in the direction of my desk, scarlet eyes locking on the Digi-Egg immediately. "…Sumi-chan? Why do you have a Digi-Egg? You didn't go to—"

"I was walking to school and found it, Dracomon," I interrupted him quickly, not knowing what place he thought that I may've gone to obtain an egg, and not wanting to know. I knew my Digimon, and his mind could be just as strange and terrifying as a psycho's at times, but he was still a good little dragon and wouldn't try to kill me in my sleep like a good handful of psychos would.

Nevertheless, curiosity soon got the better of me like it often does to the best of us humans and I had to ask as I gestured to the food that I'd brought up with me, which Dracomon eagerly began devouring, "Where, exactly, did you think that I went? To get the egg, I mean?" I gazed with surprising patience at the slobbery way that Dracomon ate, spilling crumbs all over himself and the floor. _He's gonna need a bath tonight for sure. Gee, won't that be fun…bathing a dragon who absolutely loathes water…Yay…_

After a moment of silence (well, if you didn't count the nom-nom-nom-ing coming from the over-sized lizard), Dracomon finally swallowed and picked up another bread roll as he answered without the concern he had before, "Where I'm from, Sumi-chan: The Digital World. I was afraid that you went back there without me; I know how you're afraid of it, and I—"

"One bad experience that I can't even remember doesn't mean that I'm afraid, Dracomon." I interrupted hurriedly, clenching my hands into tight fists as we went through a conversation that we'd been through many times in the past. It always ended in the same way, though: With one of us refusing to talk and leaving the other with unanswered—and possibly _unanswerable_—questions and wonderings. Usually, that person was me.

Dracomon was convinced that I'd been to the Digital World before—and with my luck, I probably had gone there by accident—and that something bad had happened. He said that I mumbled in my sleep, odd words and phrases that he didn't understand the meanings behind, and that I always did it in a voice that was much deeper than my own. Like I was saying what someone else was in one of my dreams.

However, I could never recall these dreams when I woke, I had no recollection of being in the Digital World, and I didn't see how something awful could've happened to me while there if I had no idea that I'd been there in the first place. That feeling of fear came when I thought about the strange, unknown place, though, that feeling of cold, the increased beating of my heart, my muscles tensed and ready to flee at a moment's notice.

But I had no idea why.

Not wanting this topic to stay longer than necessary, I changed the subject quickly, gesturing to the egg that I'd sat next to me on my bed. "So, what should we do with it, anyway? I mean," I lay back on the soft blankets and lifted the Digital Egg up above my head, staring at its silhouette against the ceiling light. "If it hatches…what are we supposed to do? We can't take care of a baby Digimon—I had a have a hard enough time trying to take care of you…" I trailed off gloomily, remembering how my mother had reacted so poorly to Dracomon. How fearful and unsure of him Mrs. Sasaki had been.

What if that happened again? One could only assume that a Digimon that small would grow up pretty quickly, so it wouldn't be small, and cute, and easy to hide for very long. If it grew up to be something big as a Rookie, something bigger and more fearsome than Dracomon…I doubted that Mrs. Sasaki, as accepting and friendly as she was, would be able to handle the new presence.

But if it couldn't stay here, then where would it stay? It wasn't like a bird or a fish where I could simply release the creature into the wild to fend for itself; no, then the government or something would find it and there'd be even more trouble than what we'd started out with. Regular people didn't know what to do when they saw Digimon because they were mentally blind, they didn't understand how to judge by personality and not by appearance. The poor creature would be destroyed before a single person even tried to get to know him, let alone get close enough to do so.

"Well, Sumi-chan," Dracomon started to climb up gracefully onto the bed, but his attempt at grace failed and I had to snatch him and drag him up onto the bed beside me before he thumped back onto the ground and made someone come up to check on me. After giving me a 'thank you, but you know I could've done that myself, I just didn't want to' sort of grin, he continued, "There is one place where—"

"If you say anything about the Digital World…" The growl tickled the fear coiled up in my throat and gut, a snake that was sleeping in my stomach until the unfortunate time finally came that it was to awaken and devour me from the inside. I felt a twinge of warmth spread across my face, and, knowing that it would make my ears light up all Christmas-y red, I instinctively took a hand from the Digi-Egg and covered one of them.

It felt weird—almost _wrong_—to be…_afraid_ of something that I barely even believed was truly real. Especially after all of the talks that Dracomon and I had had about it. But, then again, it was sort of like how children believed that there was a monster under their bed, a man with a knife behind the shower curtain, a creature with razor-sharp teeth and a hungry belly holed up in the basement, a demon sent by Satan himself to steal their souls as they slept. It didn't matter what anyone else said, not when the child himself could still see the shadow standing in the doorway.

It was like that, in a way. A childish fear of the unknown, the inner workings of an overactive imagination. The product of watching a few too many scary movies. The result of going to ask a teacher about some assignment and seeing him dancing erotically on his desk with no shirt on as he listened to some music that seeped into the hallway from under the classroom door. No matter what the cause, it was stupid to fear such things. To fear things that probably aren't even there, but refused to let you be at peace once they entered your memories.

But the Digital World…Dracomon talked about it now and then. What it was like. Who he'd known while there. Who his friends had been. What he'd done for fun. The good times he'd had before coming to the human world and meeting me. However, he'd also spoken of who he'd had to run from, who had tried to harm him. Who the bad guys were, what they did to so many of his friends. Evil, rotten, no-good, despicable, horrible, wretched things that I dared to call 'humans'. He told me so many things…good and bad…

Including that I'd been there before.

But I didn't remember that, and he refused to tell me anything about it, saying that it was necessary that I remember on my own. Saying every time that it had more meaning than what I realized, that it would 'help me' to figure it out without him telling me. I didn't understand what he was getting at, of course, but I let him pretend that he knew what he was talking about. I always did; he liked to talk, and I liked to listen to him.

"No, Sumi-chan, I wasn't going to say anything about that," Dracomon mumbled quietly, seeming a big put-out that I was in a bad mood because of that again. Feeling the cold finger of guilt poke at my heart upon seeing his downcast face, I relinquished the stranglehold I had on my self-consciousness and removed my hand from my ear. I wrapped it around the lazy greenish dragon and pulled him close to me and the Digi-Egg as he continued, his voice perking up slightly, "I was going to say we could take it to a charity or something, someplace where it can grow up safe with people who'll love it. Have it make friends with someone who could really use a friend."

I thought about his suggestion for a moment, mulling it over in my imagination. It was pretty easy to see, me taking the newly hatched Digimon into crowd of little children, all of them cooing over the cute little creature. But then I notice someone who seems to be excluded from the main group; I go over to the child and offer him the Digimon as his new, life-long friend. The image of the smile on the child's face as he hugs the Digimon brought a smile to my own face.

But I knew that was all that it would ever be: A nice little thought. "I like that idea a lot, Dracomon. We could make someone's life a lot better by doing that. But…I don't think that that's how most charities work, and I doubt that any parent is going to let their kid have something like a Digimon. I wish it was different but…" I trailed off, hearing soft footfalls coming up the stairs, down the hallway, stopping in front of my door.

Not wanting to cause a huge commotion by attempting to hide the egg and/or Dracomon, I hid neither and, instead, stared at the door motionlessly as it swung open rather slowly. There were three short knocks that preceded Mrs. Sasaki's head poking in to see what I was doing, asking permission to come in the rest of the way. Since I didn't make any sign of objection, she took that as a 'come on in' and entered.

She smiled at the two of us—well, I guess it's three if you count the egg—as she stated in a slightly tired-yet-cheery tone, "Ms. Inekura is gone now, Masumi, and she told me to tell you she was very happy to meet you. We had to have been talking about you for a good hour before you actually got home," Mrs. Sasaki brushed a stray gray hair from her face and steadied it behind her ear before continuing unsurely. "I know I probably should've called to warn you, but I didn't want to be rude to Ms. Inekura."

I pulled smile out of my pocket and slapped it onto my face. Normally it wasn't this hard to talk to Mrs. Sasaki, but something just…wasn't right today. "Yeah, it's fine, Mrs. Sasaki," I replied in a halfway-mumbling voice, sitting up from my reclined position. Crossing my legs Indian-style and resting the egg on my legs, I crouched over the egg slightly, resting my elbows on my knees. It made me feel as if my body was acting as some kind of fortress to the un-hatched Digimon. I was only half-surprised that she hadn't brought up the fact that it was there.

"Oh, and speaking of phone calls," A grim shadow of knowing passed over her face like a shadow passing over the bright full moon, but it was gone just as quickly as it had come. I knew exactly what she was going to say before she even said it. There was only one topic that would cause her to make that face. "Your mother called this morning around ten. She wanted to see if you would consider—"

"I found a Digimon egg," I cut in quickly, holding up the kinda-sorta-not-really heavy egg so that she could see it even if she were blind. It was easy to tell that Mrs. Sasaki was a little disappointed in me for changing the subject just because I was afraid to talk about my family, but she humored me and smiled as she did all the other times. "I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it now, but…"

I glanced away from Mrs. Sasaki for a moment and looked down at the egg in my slightly outstretched hands, and saw something that I hadn't noticed before. A small crack. But not like it had been dropped; it was more like…like how it looks when a chick is breaking out of its shell. The pieces of shell were sticking out a bit instead of it being just a simple break. I wasn't sure how long it had been there, and that bothered the hell out of me.

If it had just happened, then that meant a couple of things. First off, I was more oblivious to my surroundings that I'd once thought. Second, the egg might be hatching soon. Third, building off the second, if the egg was going to be hatching soon, then I had a lot less time to figure out what to do with the Digimon than I had anticipated.

If it had happened before, then that also meant a number of things. One, I was still really freaking oblivious to stuff. Two, I might've gone through all of this trouble for absolutely nothing because the egg might've been dead and rotten this whole time and it was never going to hatch at all. And third, there was a chance that I'd been too rough with the egg at one point or another during the day and I'd been the one to make the stupid crack in it. Hopefully…well, none of the outcomes were all that good, so I wasn't entirely sure what I was supposed to be hoping for.

"…But I'm not sure what to do with it now…" Lowing the egg very slowly back into the safety of my lap and embracing it gently, I looked back at Mrs. Sasaki with an unsure and sheepish grin accompanied by a shrug. "So…heh…" I looked down at the egg again, feeling the same anxiety that had been plaguing me all day long for no reason at all. It was that sense that you were being watched by something that meant to harm you, either by words or actions, and the being refused to let you have a moment's rest until it sent you to a place where you could rest eternally.

Mrs. Sasaki nodded absentmindedly, understanding the few words that I'd spoken, finding their full meaning within my vague expression of what was occupying my mind. She graced me once more with her smile before adding in a soft voice, "Well, let me know if it hatches. I'll make sure to make some extra food," She began to duck out the door to go and find something more entertaining to do than talk to me, but the woman paused and looked back at me. "And, Masumi? If you're ever finding that you want someone to talk to…you know you can talk to me about anything, right?"

My heart shuddered within me at her words, knowing what she meant. An index finger stroking the egg in my arms absentmindedly, I kept my face toward the sheets as I nodded solemnly. I sniffed once before putting on a brave face, grinning up at the old woman as if I thought she was talking about something that could actually be spoken about. "Yeah, I know," Nodding back at me, Mrs. Sasaki then left the room. But a touch of pain tugged at the corner of my heart, and as her steps receded down the hallway, I called after her, "Thank you…!" Her steps paused, and I could almost feel her smile sadly through the wall before continuing on down the stairs.

Sighing heavily and flopping back against my pillow next to Dracomon, I stared up at the ceiling blankly. A thick sadness had come to join his friend anxiety within me, and the two were now laughing and frolicking within my heart and soul, having the time of their lives making my life a pain. It was like I was at the funeral of someone that I had never known. I felt the grief over someone else who had fallen into that eternal slumber of the damned, but I had never known the man. Yet I craved to have known him, to know him now. To have had the chance to see the kind of person that he'd been made to be before death stole him away from this judgmental world.

I could see the faces of the people who had also come to the unknown man's funeral. Some were women, others children, and still others were men. They were all different ages, heights, shapes, sizes. But there was something about them that was the same, something so obvious that I knew that I would never be able to find out what it was on my own. It's wasn't something that could be found on their faces, or on their physical bodies, that I knew. But…but it was something on the _inside_.

Moving closer to one of them—a man a good couple of inches taller than me—I tried to get around him to see his face, but the coffin of the unnamed man was in my way a bit, so it was harder than it should've been. When I finally did get into a position where I could see his face, I sucked in a breath and shot back a few steps. It was my step-father, Kiyoshi Nemoto, looking down into the coffin with a blank, bored face.

He was standing with a comforting hand on the shoulder of my mother, Yori Chano-Nemoto. Tears were streaming down her face, and she clung to a charm around her neck as if it were the only thing keeping her in this life, keeping her from moving on to another place that was much worse than this. Her breath hitched in a strangled way, as if she were trying to control herself but was too distraught to know where to even begin trying.

Her reason for trying to regain her composure was weakly holding onto her hand on her left, as far away from Kiyoshi as she could be. Me. Six—and a three quarters—year old me. I was staring at the frilly white cloth that dressed the table that the coffin lay upon. The thought that the fabric looked too happy and joyous to be at a funeral crossed my mind; there shouldn't be white at the death of someone you loved. There should only be black, so that they, like the light and heat of the sun, might be drawn back to you and stay forever this time.

Finally, telling myself over and over again to be brave and look at who was really in the coffin, I came back over at a pace slower than a crawl, fearing the worst. I had this horrible vision that there was going to be some kind of disgusting and foul and butt-ugly monster with a hunger for human flesh in there and he was going to pop out of there and be all, 'Hello. My name is Ashsihdja. You looked at me. I'm going to eat you now NOM!' and kill me in some awful way.

But when I convinced myself that there wouldn't be a monster in the death-box, I glanced in. And it was worse than any beast, any ghoul, any demon, any devil, and anything other evil, wretched thing that the world or anything else could throw at me. An invisible bullet shot through my chest, right through my heart and through my back, ricocheting off the wall and back into me a million times, but I never died. The pain was unbearable, unbelievable, as I stared into the black box with eyes that were gradually filling with tears.

My father. Isamu Chano. Dead.

"Masu-chan? What's wrong? Are you all right?"

I shook my head violently, snapping around to stare at the place where the new voice had come from. My eyes were met with the image of a terrified and extremely concerned Dracomon, who was holding a gnawed on lamp of mine. For whatever reason, he liked shiny things. He liked to eat them. So, that was why I couldn't have shiny things. Shiny things like polished coffins. Like the one my father had been lying in.

Pulling myself out of that horrible night/day-mare again, I started to stroke the egg again to try and keep my mind in the present. "Y-yeah, I'm fine, Dracomon…just…I was thinking too hard about…things…" I pushed my mouth against the top of the egg, signaling to my Digital friend that I didn't want to talk anymore about what I'd seen. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I could muster up the courage to even walk out of my room anymore tonight for fear that my mind would be plagued with yet another haunting vision.

Understanding, Dracomon remained silent with me, something that he rarely was, but dared to be for me. He scooted over and cuddled up to me, leaning his back up against my side to make sure that I knew he was there. I heard him begin to gnaw on the lamp again, a crackling of electricity accompanying it. If anything else had been chewing on that thing, I would've unplugged it, but Dracomon seemed to like the challenge and fought me whenever I tried to, so I left it be.

Soon, the flickering bulb in Dracomon's lamp gave out and he choked it down, leaving the faint glow of the ceiling's light to make the room somewhat visible on its own. I watched at the little shadows of the tree branches outside cast down onto my floor through the window danced on the softly glowing wood floor, giving the entire room a romantic, peaceful feeling. I only wished that that sensation could be passed from the room and into me.

It was…a bad feeling, to say the least. There wasn't really a way to describe what was going on inside me, probably because I wasn't sure what was causing me to feel that way. I was used to the solidarity that I had at school; I actually kinda liked it, not having to deal with so much of the drama that you got from all your friends. Mrs. Sasaki brought weird people to her house all the time, so that was pretty normal. My mother didn't try to talk to me all that often, but then again, I couldn't really be positive about that because I tended to avoid the woman. I thought about the Digital World a lot, and sure, it confused the hell out of me doing so, but…

But I didn't think that any of that was causing the problem. Nothing that I thought of was; I could think of a reason why it wouldn't be every time. Then again, how could I make a reason why it wouldn't be if I didn't know what I was saying that it wasn't? For all I knew, it actually was and I'd just never realized it before.

My train of thought paused. It wasn't sure where it was going anymore. Nothing that I was thinking about was making any sense anymore, none of it was connecting with reality.

I sighed through my nose, beginning to wonder. About what, I wasn't sure, but the feeling of wondering came upon me like a calm storm came upon the coast, not with the gusts and hate of a hurricane, but with a light, smooth rain that coated everything it touched in a slippery wetness. It was the sort of weather that was told of in love stories, when people ran out of their homes to find the ones they loved, and finally kiss them as it rained.

But currently, my rain was the kind that poured down upon the downcast and befuddled, the kind that hid the tears that the brave shed. The sort of rain that always came at the beginning of something big, something important, something that was about to change the entire world.

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**Not in love with the ending, but it's the best that I could do at the moment since I wasn't sure how to wrap it up lol. I hope you guys enjoyed it even though it was mainly just introducing a bunch of crap that'll come up later in the plot (anybody get who the lady is? Didya see what I did with her name? XD If not, don't worry, I'll point it out later) and all that jizz. I really hope you liked it anyway, and please let me know by hitting that little review button that's somewhere on the screen here :) I'd really appreciate that, and have a godo rest of your day/night/whatever it is by you when you read this.**


	2. Chapter 2: Unknown

**Well, I stayed up way too late on a school night to finish this, but it was totally worth is since I got to update something this week (finally! :D). I know that things have been going really, really slowly as far as me posting stuff lately, and I'm really sorry about that, but I've just been busy and distracted by semester tests so I haven't been inspired/haven't had time to write. Once again, sorry, guys. D:**

**Nevertheless, I promised myself to post something this weekend, so here it is! :D I hope you guys like it, and a great big 'thank you' to everyone who's been reading this so far :) I really appreciate you guys, I really do. **

**And now that I'm done being sentimental lol, please enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think! :D**

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Chapter 2: Unknown

I drummed my fingers absentmindedly on my desk, waiting for my Math class to begin. It was my first hour class, which was all right—on certain days. For example, if you're in pain from messing up a move in judo practice, and that injury cost you most if not all sleep, then doing all kinds of complicated equations first thing in the morning is complete and total hell. However, if everything goes decently the night before, then it's simple enough to deal with.

That's how most people saw Math, wasn't it? As something that you just have to 'deal with' and be done with? I didn't think that—well, on the half-way decent to pretty good days, at least. It was more of…a challenge for the mind that only the strong-willed chose to undertake with all they had. It was something that wasn't for everyone, sure, but if one were to dig deep within themselves, they may find that though they didn't have a talent for it, they had a love for it. Though, most people had never even dreamed—or had nightmares about—putting the words 'love' and 'Math' together in the same sentence.

Unless it was 'I feel the absolute opposite of love for Math' or something like that.

But so far, today was starting to turn into one of those pretty good days. I'd been on-time for school—actually, I'd been early and was now trying to waste time by attempting to get another one of my pencils to stick to the ceiling—and I had judo practice after school, which was always great, even if I got hurt. It was something I could throw myself into to forget about the world for a bit, or pretend that my opponent _was_ the world so that I could have the chance to give a piece of my mind to the place that seemed to flee from me every time I tried to smile.

Either way, beating up on the world or no beating up on the world, I was determined to be positive today. Maybe because I was sort of excited about the Digi-Egg waiting for me to return, or maybe it was the wrestling match that I'd stupidly promised to have with Dracomon (it was stupid because he always got too rough and we always ended up breaking something and I always felt super bad about it for close to a week afterwards. Yet, we still kept repeating the cycle at least once every couple of weeks), maybe it was just because it was Friday. I wasn't sure.

But still. Friday all day, baby.

The bell that signaled the quickly-approaching beginning of class sounded, and I glanced up from the strange gold bracelet I was playing with to watch as streams of students poured into the room. I knew most everyone that came in, and I was sure that I'd talked to them all at least once, but I couldn't call any of them my friends. And I knew that they would've said the same of me.

Two people that came in together caught my eye for half a second. A boy and a girl, holding hands and laughing together before kissing softly and parting to go to their own desks. It felt a little awkward for them to have shown such open affection in a public place—especially one like a school since that just didn't seem like the greatest place to show tender feelings like those—but at the same time, it got me thinking.

I'd never really had a boyfriend before—I mean, guys had had crushes on me before and everything, but I'd never liked any of them back all that much. I didn't think that having a close relationship with someone was such a good idea when Dracomon had to be kept a secret from him, or when the little dragon was as protective as he was. If the boy didn't meet his standards of safety, then there was no way in hell that he'd get within three steps of me. Not without Dracomon beating the freaking crap out of him.

Nevertheless, my Digimon pal couldn't stop me from daydreaming about the kind of guy I might like. And when I pictured said person, I never got a very accurate physical description of him since appearance stuff had never really mattered all that much to me (not that I didn't see how some guys were more attractive than others. It just didn't decide who I liked more). No, when it came down to it, I wanted someone with the most flamboyant, out-of-this-world personality ever crafted. That way, his oddities would've prepared him with how to cope with my own, and they wouldn't come as so much of a shock.

And, adding on to that, I wasn't sure that there was such a person in the world. It was starting to become increasingly more apparent that whatever was so strange about me was much more noticeable—if not in my appearance then in some kind of aura that I gave off—than I'd once assumed. I didn't think that I acted that different compared to other girls, I mean, being a bit on the reserved side and stuff like that wasn't unheard of in any way. It was just…odd. The fact that I didn't seem right for this world.

_Speaking of odd…_ I tuned out the bell for the start of class and stared down at the gold band that hung around my wrist, gleaming gallantly in the morning light as I spun it around slowly. I didn't know much about it, and the small number of people that I'd asked hadn't known much about it either. The one jeweler that I had shown it to a few years back had told me that he'd never seen anything like it before but would get back to me after doing a bit of research.

I never spoke to that man again. I wasn't sure if that meant that he'd lost my number and hadn't been able to get in touch with me, or something insignificant like that, or if it was something bigger. There was always the chance that this…_thing _that I wore constantly had no information about it. At least, not here in the human world.

The strange object had come to me through my father when I was too young to even remember getting it. Apparently it had been important that I always have it, since I was pretty much ordered by my father to never take it off no matter what. And, being as young as I was then, I didn't question him and simply did what he said. But now…I was much more curious.

Why in the hell would he give me some unidentifiable bracelet when I was just a little kid? What was so important about it? He'd acted like it actually mattered whether or not I wore the stupid thing, and by keeping it on, I was entertaining the foolish notion that he was right! I was stupid to believe in the words of a dead man, to keep the promise that I'd made when I was too little to realize what I was promising: To keep a bracelet on for the rest of my life.

I stopped twirling the band for a moment, my mind suddenly blank with the realization of how harsh and inconsiderate my words had been. _I'm sorry, Dad. I didn't…I didn't mean for it to come out that way. I'm just…I just don't understand what this is all supposed to mean. You didn't really explain anything before you left me to figure it out alone, you know. _I felt a tiny bit better after apologizing, though I knew that it was weird to do so when he couldn't literally hear me.

But then again, maybe he could. Maybe all the dead weren't dead in the way that most people thought of it. It was often referred to as a sleep that one never awakens from, or a comatose. Before medical technology was as great as it is today, many doctors mistook patients in comas for being lost to death. So, what if they _weren't_ wrong?

Millions and millions of people believed in a life after death—an eternal life in heaven, a place of joy and love and peace, or sometimes an eternal life of torture and pain and sorrow. Of course, that was after the physical death of the body, for only the soul left to go to either heaven or hell. But did that mean that the body was more of a vessel for the spirit than a living thing in and of itself?

The body had no soul, and yet it would be reunited with the true soul at the end of times. It felt pain, it grew and developed, it had a genetic code, and it could produce offspring, so it showed many if not then all of the characteristics of living things. Or was that actually the soul showing through, proving its presence by spreading its light and life through the flesh and blood? It was possible, wasn't it?

I mean, if you thought about it, Digimon were a lot like humans—of course, a hypothetical thing since a lot of Digimon were pretty…not-human-looking. The way that they were similar, though, was the fact that they had souls and emotions like we did. They had all the characteristics of life that we did, though their bodies were much stronger and more durable than ours, obviously. However, Digimon were more in-touch with who they were, their inner spirits/selves, than humans were. And this would lead one to believe that—

Something small but hard smacked me in the forehead, snapping me quickly from my mental rant. I jumped and looked around quickly, my reaction making a couple of the other students laugh, until I figured out that my teacher had realized I wasn't paying attention and had thrown some of his chalk at me. I bit back a scowl as I mumbled in a half-apologetic tone, "Can you repeat the question, sir?"

"I didn't _ask_ a question, Ms. Chano," He muttered back, mimicking my voice in a way that made my face red with anger. Another couple of my peers giggled at how close he'd come to matching the dark ring my voice had had to it. "I _told_ you to read the paragraph on the top of page 224." I removed my gaze from his slightly mocking one and searched for the section he was talking about.

It was rare for us to go through anything straight from the book in this class since our teacher was kinda against book-learning in a way, and thought that students learned more if it was paraphrased for them instead. The only time that we did read from the book was done as a punishment for the students that tended to zone out during class. Which, of course, I _never_ did…

I finished reading the rather lengthy paragraph (he always knew how to pick the longest ones to torture us with, too) and raised my eyes to see the pay-attention-for-the-rest-of-class-or-I'll-make-you-translate-the-entire-book-into-Polish-three-times stare that the instructor gave me before starting to return to class. And I started to return to my internal discussion.

He was about to write something up on the chalkboard when he looked at the both of his hands: Empty, no chalk. Spinning around, he called on the first student that he saw, "Damon—" I wasn't sure how (I think it was that I hadn't been paying much attention to him anymore but had heard the command that came after the name that was clearly not mine) but for whatever reason, I could've sworn that he was speaking to me. "Can you throw that back up here? It's the last piece I've got thanks to that prank last week. Since _some_ kid thought that it would be funny to crush up a bunch of the chalk and switch it out for the sugar by the coffee machine…" He glanced around the room, probably thinking that the evildoer was someone in his class.

Not having heard the whole 'Damon' part of his order, I leaned over in my desk and made a move to pick up the chalk in the middle of the walkway between the rows of desks. And it would've gone perfectly fine—since picking up a piece of chalk does tend to be a pretty simple task—if another person's fingers hadn't caught mine the second that the tips of my index finger felt the cool, smooth texture of the chalk.

My face popped back up as if someone had shot me in the head, and my eyes were met by a pair of wide, glorious hazel irises. The teenager's lightly tanned face was framed by brown bangs that made his eyes seem to glow like the forest did after a soft rain. The rest of his russet hair was rather long, resting just above his broad shoulders, and a good portion of it was tied up in a half-ponytail.

I was startled by how close the two of us were to one another. I could almost imagine the feel his warm breath on my face, and the sensation sent a strange chill down my spine. My mouth had gone completely dry and it was a struggle just to swallow now. I couldn't tell if my heart was there anymore since its rapid beating had long-since stopped and had been replaced by the oddest of silences. The quiet that came before a storm, or the peaceful silence that stilled the soul as a romantic moment took place in all of the heart-throb-falls-in-love-with-an-average-girl movies.

The boy who was now locked in a staring contest with me was about as lost as to what the hell we were supposed to do now as I was. Our fingers were melded together in the most perfect, comfortable way, and both had stopped reaching for the chalk in favor of staying in the other's 'embrace'. His mouth hung open in a surprised little 'o' as he gazed into my eyes, which kept blinking nervously no matter how hard I tried to stop them. It was sort of like my blushing: It just kept getting _worse_.

But my teacher—sent from hell, apparently—wasn't going to let either of us figure this out quietly. "Well, well, well, Masumi!" I snapped up to stare at him in horror, frightened by the amused note in his voice. "I had no idea that you were so eager to have 'Damon' as your last name! But don't you think that fifteen is a bit too young to be thinking of holy matrimony?" Snickers and loud snorts of laughter came from all corner of the classroom as my face took on a 'what the hell, man?!' look as well as a darker shade of red.

I hurriedly pulled my hand back from the boy's (for the life of me, I could not remember his first name, though I was pretty sure it was…Marcus? Or something like that…?), leaving the chalk where it was, and straightening up in my seat. It took all my will power to keep from chucking the chalk at the man in an effort to send him to the emergency room to remove a half-inch of chalk from the innermost part of his brain, entry point having been his eye socket. Instead, to keep myself from being sued, I ground my teeth and tried to remind myself that all life was precious.

No matter how much it deserved to be punched in the face and sent to the morgue in several hundred pieces.

The hazel-eyed boy, who I was almost positive was Marcus (the 'traumatic-ness' of the moment before had caused my mind to misplace my memory-glands temporarily), didn't seem as bothered by our teacher's stupid quip as I had been. He still seemed a bit shocked by the entire ordeal, to be honest. After smoothly tossing the writing utensil back up to our teacher, he relaxed back in his desk—albeit, a bit more tensely than before. Arms crossed on top of the desk, he resumed tapping his pencil on the wood, though the speed of the rapping had picked up a fair amount.

My eyes wandered unstoppably from his rapidly moving pencil to his tense shoulders, up to the throbbing vein in his neck that was partially hidden by his golden brown hair. Glancing up at his face, which was angled toward the front of the classroom (where mine should've been), I saw that his jaw was set tight but his eyes didn't show the signs of anger that would explain the pounding evidently coursing through his veins. Let alone the gentle brush of red that dusted his cheekbones.

I didn't really have any other ideas as to what was running through his mind, though. I mean, the only thing I would expect would be that he might be a bit pissed at the teacher for that stupid comment of his, but he didn't really seem…upset. It was more of…an anxiousness? A sort of befuddlement of emotions? I wasn't sure what the right word/words would be, but I assumed it was sort of like playing a game with tag with someone you'd had a crush on for months, only to have them suddenly turn around and lock lips with you.

That would be pretty darn bewildering, in my opinion.

But the incident with the chalk and our hands (I got a freaky little tingle in that very hand just thinking about it) wasn't a big deal, really. It wouldn't have even happened if I had been paying a bit more attention. And it's not like we were complete strangers, either, so it shouldn't have been _that_ awkward—that doesn't excuse the fact that it was, but still. Furthermore, I knew for a fact that that boy would never have a crush on me, so that tag thing that had crossed my mind previously couldn't even be considered a good way of explaining his reaction.

Marcus was in a number of my classes other than Math this year—we were even lab partners in Chemistry. The two of us talked on a daily basis, though it was mostly (if not, then all) related to school work in one way or another, except for the occasional greeting in the morning or at the beginning of some class that we shared. The only other times that we might've spoken were days that he missed some school and borrowed notes from me, or I had to stay after and work with him on something he missed out on for Chemistry.

I liked Marcus, though. Yeah, he messed around a bit if some of his friends were near him in the class, but he paid attention for the most part and listened to me reasonably well whenever we were paired together for something. And most of the time when he tried to get off the topic of school work with me, it was just a little thing that he'd mention, a small joke or something to make me smile. Which he always did.

That was the main reason why I enjoyed most of the classes that I had him with: He made me truly happy for a little while. And in the world that we live in today, such a thing can be very difficult to find. Cynical, dark, hateful, vengeful, and cruel were all perfect words to describe the public that you saw wandering around the streets of your neighborhood, your city, your state, your country, your world. It was just the way things were, the way that they'd always been and the way that they always would be.

Of course, those terms didn't apply to everyone. All people had the ability to pick and choose what parts of their personalities that they let others see, and which ones that they would rather hide from the eyes of the judgmental world around them. That, in my eyes, was why many people seemed to be the same: They were too afraid of the reaction of others should they decide to be different and stray from the white sheep to become another color of sheep, like red, or purple, or cerulean—

"Masumi. Chano."

I hurriedly looked away from Marcus—who I'd stupidly been staring at while going off into La-La Land, but thankfully he hadn't noticed (if he had, he didn't seem bothered)—and, pretending that I hadn't been staring at the boy, moved my gaze to where it should've been this whole time: The front of the room. Where my teacher was currently fuming like a vegetable that had been boiled for far, far too long.

He kept his eyes locked dangerously on me as he flipped his book open to a seemingly random page. After glancing down to see how long it was, he looked back up at me and pointed to it with enraged dramatics. "You have a nice reading voice, so how about you take care of page 485 for us? Starting at the top and going on until the next subject-switch, and then explain to the rest of the class what you read."

I had to flip for a while in order to find the page that he was referring to, mumbling to myself a little about how some teachers could be so persistent in their knobbish-ness when they wanted to be. When I got to the part that he'd been talking about, I flipped ahead to see just how long this thing was going to be, and had an 'oh no' moment when I saw what he was forcing on me.

I'd never heard of the main topic of the paragraph (advanced trigonometric identities was apparently a thing), had no idea what the thing was supposed to be telling me, and the entire section was a good two and a half pages of examples that I would have to explain and terms that I would have to paraphrase. Not to mention the fact that we weren't even learning any of this crap today, and probably wouldn't even get to it for another month or two. So, you could tell just how ticked my teacher was if he was prepared to waste class time in order to punish me.

_Oh, the absolute, unadulterated joy…_

* * *

A grunt of discomfort and slight pain escaped my throat as I was thrown over another judo student's shoulder, being slammed into the mat by his not inconsiderable weight. I heard something ringing loudly in my head from the hard collision, the mat not doing a whole lot of good despite how soft it was. I raised a hand to touch the throbbing spot on my head as the boy I'd sparred with got up with a bit of a laugh.

"You're really not yourself today, Masumi," Hikaru told me with a grin and a shake of his head, his signature 'thing'. His bangs were a tad too long most of the time, so he usually had to flip them out of his eyes. Somehow, that didn't bother him whenever he dueled someone. "You're normally beating me, but I've got you three to one!" He spat out his little hiccupping laugh for a moment, but then stopped his excited bragging for a moment to take notice of how I hadn't gotten up yet. "Uh, you okay down there?"

I raised the hand that wasn't searching for a dent in my skull and waved him away. "Yeah, I'm fine. I didn't fall right and banged my head in a bad spot. I'll be all right in a second," I groaned quietly as I sat up, still rubbing the spot on the back of my head that I'd smacked as I sat up, looking up at the red-head as I did. "You wanna go one more time before _Sensei _kicks everybody out for the night?" I cast him the remnants of a grin as I brought up the question.

The golden-haired boy laughed as he held up his hands in an 'I surrender' sort of way. "First off, I don't think that you should if you're hurting, and second, I've got a hot date tonight and I don't want to stink like sweat," He offered me his hand to help me up, but I refused it with a polite smile, currently feeling like I would pass out if I moved in the slightest.

Blondie didn't appear bothered by my actions, though. He gave me a final grin before punching me playfully in the shoulder as he moved past me. "Have a good one, Chano, and try not to break your head any more than I already have!" He called back to me, laughing at the snort and doubtful 'uh-huh, we'll see' noise that I made. However, it wasn't a true laugh; this was how our conversations went pretty much every time that I fought with Hikaru, so it was done as if on cue.

Except for the head injury. That part was new.

I gingerly nursed the steadily growing bump on my head for a little while longer before a waft of soft, cold air brushed against my forehead. Glancing up, I came face-to-face with a plastic bag filled with ice, held out by my _sensei_, Mr. Moku Yamani. A grateful smile passed onto my face as I accepted the 'gift', a flush of embarrassment at the knowledge that my teacher had seen me lose three times in a row lighting up my face.

"Your fellow pupil is right, Masumi," The fifty-something-year-old man stated in that Jedi-ish voice that he had (I remembered a time last Christmas when he'd tried to do a Jedi mind trick by saying, 'This is not the Christmas tree you're looking for.' It didn't work) as he sat down opposite me. I had to admit, the whole Jedi-thing it got pretty distracting sometimes. "You don't seem as focused on your training this evening. Is something going on?"

_A couple of things are going on, _Sensei_. I've got a Digimon buddy from another world—which, by the way, I'm afraid of and don't understand why—and I've got another creature from that world—except it's an egg with a crack in it—and to top it all off, I've got this freaky band that probably came from that world as well. You have any idea what I should do, sir? Because the only thing I can think of to do is stuff cotton balls in my ears, put a blindfold on, and pretend that the world isn't about to crash down all around me. Good plan? I think so._

Of course, I wasn't about to say any of that out loud. "No, sir, nothing's up. I'm a little tired is all," I cast him an honest smile. That one really wasn't a lie; I really was freaking exhausted. Just…not for the reason that I gave to explain it. "It's been a long week for me."_ Yeah, a long week of running into Digimon and seeing some blonde guy who's buddies with a big blue dog and has a bunch of high-tech-looking equipment, but somehow missed the Digi-Egg that I now have. That totally makes sense…_

"Ah, I can relate," Mr. Yamani stated with a nod, crossing his arms over his chest. Judging by his tone and the deep breath that he'd taken…I was almost positive that he was about to start to rant. "Sunday was nice and peaceful, but as soon as Monday came around the phone was bouncing off the walls with telemarketers and all those rotten politicians trying to recruit people for the election two years from now, and the rest of the week didn't go any better.

"Tuesday, I had to go grocery shopping at the super market like every other Tuesday, but this time the cart that I chose lost a wheel in the middle of the store and it rolled under one of the shelves. So, that was a problem. Have you ever tried to steer your grocery cart when it's tilted to the side and every turn nearly knocks it over? It's difficult, I'll tell you that.

"Wednesday, my sister's soon-to-be-son-in-law got cold feet for the wedding coming up in April, so he ran off somewhere and I was roped into helping find him. And wouldn't you've guessed it,_ I_ was the one who ended up finding him. The little fool was sitting in the corner of a bar with a pair of goggles on his head, a beer in his hands, and a marker-mustache scribbled on his face. I got his brain to work again after a little while, but I was almost certain we'd lost him.

"Thursday…I'm not sure what happened on Thursday. Maybe that's why it's so…disturbing.

"And today: Friday, the best day of the week, and the only good day of the week as well. The telephone stopped working so there were no telemarketers, no cart wheels rolled under shelves when I needed them most, no frightened men practically forgot who they were, and I can still remember everything that's happened so far today," Exhausted from telling me his whole life's story, the man puffed out a sigh before politely adding, "So, can anything that happened to you top any of that?"

I stared at the man opposite me, wondering what had compelled him to tell me everything about his week—not to mention why the heck he couldn't remember Thursday. Despite the fact that I was a bit unnerved by the sudden insight into my _sensei_'s life, I mustered up a bit of a laugh. "No, _Sensei_, nothing like that happened to me at all. It was a normal week, just…long, I guess. But Mrs. Sasaki and a good friend of mine are expecting me home soon, so I need to hurry and go." I began to stand, starting to plan out the fastest way to get showered and dressed and still be home in time to squeeze in a wrestling match with Dracomon before supper.

"Of course, Masumi," Mr. Yamani stated matter-of-factly, nodding to himself as he spoke. "You wouldn't want to keep either of them waiting, now, would you?" He stretched a slightly wrinkled hand out to me, and my first thought was that he wanted a high-five. But, thinking again, I saw that he was merely gesturing for the ice pack—which is what most anyone else would've already known, but my mind had been far more scrambled than usual lately.

I handed the plastic bag to him with another mumbled 'thanks', and we exchanged a few more polite courtesies before I was able to escape to the locker room. I knew that I shouldn't have been so eager to get away, especially since Mr. Yamani was one of the nicest people that I'd ever met, and he'd never done anything to make me react in such a way. But, I couldn't help it. Every now and then, something…happened to me. I didn't understand it, but sometimes…I couldn't cope with being around other humans.

It didn't make sense, since I was a human and I should be fine with others, but…I just _wasn't_.

As I closed the door behind me, I thumped against it, grateful for the solid echo that was cast into the empty room, and slid slowly down to the chilly, light-blue-tiled floor. Propping my elbows up on my knees, I dug the heels of my hands into my temples and tried to quiet my mind, quiet my body, just silence the entire world for once in its existence.

There were no thoughts rushing through my mind, nothing racing in all directions as if searching for something important that had been lost long ago, but there was a buzzing. The sort of sound that you heard when nothing else _could_ be heard. The deafening sound of complete and utter silence. But this wasn't the silence that was comforting, the silence of peace or of love or of contentment. It was the silence of loneliness, of agony, of guilt, the quiet that filled one's soul after bitter tears had been shed, but nothing within had been fixed.

Everything hurt within me, and not from the judo. It was the kind of pain that was easily mistaken as something else, but I'd been feeling it for so long that I knew when it was coming. I always knew what it felt like, but I never why it came or what it meant. It was a tingling sensation that started in my fingers and toes and kept creeping up and up until I was shaking like I was going through hyperthermia. Panic would set in and everything would stop around me except for the crawling feeling, the feeling that it wasn't going to stop this time and I would have to suffer with this strange agony forever.

But it always stopped.

Sometimes it took a little longer, but I knew it would always stop. Even through my panic, a little fleeting thought was always there in the back of my mind: 'Don't worry. It's all going to be over soon.' It wasn't really a comforting thought, not when you analyzed the words and what they could mean as many times as I had done, but still. It was something, and something was better than nothing at all.

* * *

The steadily dimming sunlight cast long shadows across the ground, some of them racing along to keep up with mine as I walked home. The little ripples and waves of pale darkness captured my attention more than the golden and red-tinted sunlight, and I stared at the ground as I walked, watching the small and meek shadows get chased away by the larger, meaner, and more aggressive ones.

As I gazed down upon them, I thought about a number of fleeting things, allowing them to enter and exit my mind as they saw fit. I thought about Mr. Yamani and the people that I knew through judo. I thought about the people that I talked with now and again at school, and with those that I did my best to avoid so that we wouldn't cause a scene. I thought about how I might go about getting back at my Math teacher. I thought about Mrs. Sasaki and Dracomon, sitting at home waiting for me to get back.

But most of all, I thought about Marcus Damon.

I could still picture that wide-eyed look that he'd had, his bright hazel eyes glowing with a kind of wonder that I'd never seen before in him, let alone any other person I'd met. It was the sort of light that you could only see in the deepest, most inspiring dream of all, a completely inhuman brightness that was not of this world.

Of all the things in that moment for me to remember, that was the part that stuck the most. I wasn't sure why for certain. Maybe it was because we'd been staring at each other for such a long time before being interrupted that it was sort of branded into my mind's eye. Or it could just be that I normally didn't look into his eyes for that long and I was surprised, so it really jammed itself into my head.

Or was it because I'd never realized how beautiful he was before?

The thought stunned every molecule of my mind, the same feeling I got when Dracomon 'accidentally' smacked me in the face with his tail, to the point where I literally stopped moving, but quickly started up again to avoid being stared at. I'd never thought of him like that—you know…in a…more-than-a-friend kind of way—and it shocked me that I was allowing myself to think about it at all. I'd been over this mental note too many times to count and too many times to want to argue about it inside again: Since there was something about me that put people on edge, it made absolutely no sense for me to even think of a bond like that.

And that wasn't me just beating myself down, it was true. I'd never been good at making friends, and it had gradually gotten worse as I grew up. It wasn't that I was shy or too quiet or something pretty normal like that, but instead it was like…an aura that I gave off. For some reason, a lot of people didn't seem…comfortable around me. I'd asked Mrs. Sasaki about it once before, but her answer had brought up even more questions in my mind: 'You're different from them, Sumi, dear. Different intimidates people.'

...I wasn't sure if I would ever understand what she'd told me then. I knew that I was different; everybody was in their own way because that was what made us all individuals. But was there a fine line between being just different enough and…being a misfit? Apparently there was, and apparently I'd completely and utterly mutilated said line.

Either way, my being the sole outcast of the human world made it hard to imagine being romantically involved with a guy who would actually like me back. Having it be one-sided (obviously, it would be _my_ side) was a no-no as well, since who would want to get their hopes up by dreaming when the reality of how things truly were and always would be would throw you to the ground every single day? I mean, who would chase after another person if that was the only thing that would happen in the end?

The little, tiny, insignificant amount of pleasure that one might get from such feelings was no match for the unadulterated agony and despair that came once that person left, or once their true feelings for you were exposed. It was then that you would realize that nothing that you'd ever done had mattered, and it had all been a waste of both of your time, both of your lives. And sometimes, if you let it get deep enough into your brain, into your soul, it would consume you. Eat away at your life and your brain until you couldn't stand it any longer.

I could say with complete certainty that I would _not_ pursue Marcus Damon for all of those reasons.

Of course, I couldn't force him out of my life to avoid all confrontations with him. I didn't mind the fact that I saw him now and again and that we were often forced to work together in classes. All of that was perfectly fine with me, as long as it didn't go any further than that. And clearly I was overlooking the fact that somebody like him would even settle for something like me. So, this was all hypothetical, never-gonna-happen-bro stuff that I was wasting time and energy fretting about.

When I should've been fretting about the police car sitting in front of my home. I'd been so deep in thought that I'd almost completely missed seeing the stupid thing, however, I did give myself a bit of a break since I was still a little over a block away. Picking up the pace despite the still-present throb in most of my muscles, I broke into a swift jog, thinking of all kinds of horrible things that could've happened to cause the police to have come.

I overheard Mrs. Sasaki watching the news every night, and I hadn't heard her or the reporters mentioning any kind of crimes going on lately, even though there was something about electrical imbalances or something. That didn't mean much though, since all that it was really doing was messing up some power-providing companies every now and then, but apparently it was just a spell and would be over within the next couple of weeks. Nothing serious, and definitely nothing having to do with Mrs. Sasaki or me. And hopefully not Dracomon or the Digi-egg.

_Oh, crap! I hope that the police don't find them…! _With every single horror-filled possibility of what might become of my best friend if that were to happen slicing into my brain like a razor, I leapt over the stoop and plowed through the front door. But I came to an abrupt stop when my eyes fell upon a perfectly tranquil scene: Mrs. Sasaki sitting with three other people in different colored uniforms, drinking tea.

And currently staring at disarrayed me as if I was holding a bomb in my hand and was trying to pass it off as a peanut.

There was a long silence between the five of us, except for my panting, but it was finally broken by the only blonde in the room—a boy who looked incredibly familiar to me. He rose the cup of steaming tea up of the table in a very sophisticated manner as he muttered matter-of-factly under his breath, "I told you that parking so close would freak her out." Bold yet pale blue eyes studied my disheveled person for a moment before casting an 'I told you so' look to a clearly peeved magenta-haired girl.

It was clear by the glare that she threw at him that she was the oldest (you could tell because that look appeared as if she'd given it a number of times before, and it was a kind of expression that you'd give someone younger than you anyways). She'd just started to mumble something back under her breath when my gaze was pulled to the third and final stranger in the house. Who, in reality, wasn't a stranger at all.

The brunette that had held my attention all day long, even when he was nowhere near me, instantly shot into attention the moment that he'd gotten over his initial shock at my entry and realized that I was staring at him. A wide grin settled onto his face as he called out to me with a bit of a laugh, "Chano! I didn't know this was your place!" He glared with a slight mocking nature at the blonde. "You don't tell me anything anymore, Thomas. You should fix that."

"Well, Marcus," The teen who was apparently named Thomas responded with an exasperated-seeming sneer. "If I didn't have all kinds of wrecked technology back at headquarters to deal with, then I might be able to." From the tone of his voice and the sheepish and not-quite-apologetic smile that Marcus offered him, I had a pretty good assumption as to who had been the one to break everything back at…headquarters, apparently.

Yeah. All of this made total sense.

Running an anxious hand through my ruffled hair and tossing my heavy bag to the side, I let out an exhausted sigh. I needed to get all of this crap sorted out before my brain exploded within my skull. Because nobody was going to want to clean up that mess. "All right, all right," Striding over to the island counter that everyone was gathered around, I rested my elbows on it and glanced around at each of the faces that I saw. "…What the hell is going on?" …That that summed up most of my thoughts, really.

Marcus, Thomas, and the magenta-haired girl cast each other indecipherable glances at my inquiry, clearly not sure how to go about replying. That fact, the very expressions that they had, made me incredibly antsy. I didn't like it when someone had the upper hand against me, or knew something that I had no clue about, but then again, most people hated it when that kind of thing happened. Nevertheless, I think that I hated it more than others.

"…Oh, well…Sumi, dear…" Mrs. Sasaki was the first the speak, though her voice was so quiet and seemingly distracted that it was hard to tell that she was making any noise at all. A cold chill crawled up my spine; I hated it when she whispered like that. It always meant something bad. "These nice young people are here to talk to you about that…'egg' that you found…" She looked up briefly at the other girl before lowering her eyes to stare intently into her tea, obviously thinking hard about something.

I felt my skin starting to heat up exponentially at I slowly moved my eyes from her to stare at the three people opposite me. A steadily growing fire was beginning to ignite within my muscles, within every single cell that made up my body—it was like my own fight-or-flight response, but different. The difference was that there was no choice between fighting or fleeing. There was no contest. I _couldn't_ choose.

It was always fight.

I didn't know why it was that way, but I guess that I'd never really put forth the effort to understand it in the first place. But, at the current moment, the reasons behind my quirks didn't matter. I had to protect the Digimon upstairs, keep aloof until I knew exactly what was going on here. And, as the older girl with mauve hair began to explain, I had a feeling that this would be the start of me getting a lot more than what I'd bargained for. "First things first," She said with a gesture to herself, then to her two male companions. "My name is Yoshino Fujieda, and these two are Thomas Norstein and Marcus Damon—who, apparently, seems to know you already…

"Anyway, the three of us are part of an organization called DATS that supervises all of the Digital life, like the egg that you have. Like your guardian has said, we're here because we received a signal earlier today that you had a Digimon egg in your possession, one that has not yet hatched. It's very, very important that you give us that egg so that we can take care of it before it becomes a problem." Yoshino's voice was so direct and serene, like she didn't think that this assignment of theirs was going to be difficult to accomplish.

But, boy, was she ever wrong. "Thanks for your concern, but I don't think so," I grunted immovably, straightening up to cross my arms before my chest defiantly. I didn't care if there was going to be some kind of danger; I knew Digimon, and they knew me. I could handle the thing just fine if something bad were to happen. I had a feeling that something absolutely terrifying was going to occur when I saw the shocked-out-of-her-mind look on Yoshino's face. I could almost feel the disturbance that my answer had caused in the atmosphere.

While she was still struggling to grasp what had just gone on, Marcus tried to reason with me in a slightly aggravated tone, "What do you mean 'no'?" The bright-eyed brunette seemed disgruntled at the most, but not nearly as surprised as the girl had been. He was probably a bit more used to things not going his way; he seemed like that kind of a guy. "We are trying to help you, you know."

"But that doesn't mean that I want—or need—your help," I shot back with the beginnings of a glare, which he readily returned to me as if on impulse. I broke off the staring contest after a moment and continued explaining my predicament. "You don't seriously think that I'd let you walk out of here with that egg, do you? I don't even know you people—" I glanced briefly at Marcus, casting him a small shrug. "Well, I kinda know you, but not enough. And besides, why would I let you guys take the thing if I have no idea what you'd do with it? How am I supposed to know that you won't…" I trailed off, not wanting to say what I was thinking but knowing that I wouldn't have to for them to understand my dilemma.

Despite my increasingly obvious attempt to remain stubborn and unshakeable in my decisions, I really did want to believe that there was nothing suspicious about these three. I didn't like having to force them to convince me, but it was for the best of the Digimon egg. That was the only thing on my mind right now. _Not to mention the fact that I've gotta look out for Dracomon as well. If they got one Digimon on radar, the time's bound to come when they'll find him, too._

"What?!" Marcus shot up from his seat and stared me down with his eye twitching slightly from across the table. The combination of his confusion at my responses and his aggravation at my stubbornness was starting to eat away at him. Quite clearly, at that. "I told you, we're here to help you—_and_ the Digimon! And—" The oldest teen shot him a warning look, silencing him immediately, albeit with a puff of annoyance at her mothering nature.

Taking a small breath to calm himself back down, the brunette picked up where he left off in a minutely more serene and smooth voice, "Look, I can see that you've had some experience with Digimon—if you didn't, then you wouldn't be this keen on keeping the egg safe—and that's awesome, Shorty—" _The hell did you just call me, Damon?!_ "—but that also means you've gotta know something else: How this world reacts to Digimon. Am I right?"

My irate mind—still fuming over the stupid name he'd given me—instantly was sated when he said the very thing that I'd been thinking for the past couple of days. I hadn't thought that anyone else would ever consider what Digimon might feel like, being rejected by the world. But I'd been wrong. And I was more than okay with it this time. "…Of course, I know…" However, that didn't mean that I was going to bend for any of them, definitely not yet. "But Digimon are innocent creatures—half of them don't understand why they're cast into the shadows of this world! Prove to me that you'll keep that egg safe from heartless fools, and I'll gladly let you take it.

"But not before!" I snapped out defiantly, re-crossing my arms before my chest and locking gazes with Marcus again. The boy was grating his teeth with frustration at my protective antics, currently disguised as mere bullheadedness. I felt a twinge of guilt acting this way towards someone who shared one of the same views of the world as I did, but I couldn't let little feelings get in the way of the bigger picture. Not when someone as important as a child—even a non-human child—was involved.

Thomas glanced away from me and over at Marcus's fuming form, stating smartly as he observed his friend, "You didn't mention she would be like this," The comment almost made me grin, just at the pure humor of the moment, but I didn't when the realization that they'd been planning this finally hit. 'You didn't mention this'…Marcus had been _analyzing_ me during classes! He'd been playing Mr. Detective, going about investigating his suspects! _I'm gonna beat that kid on Monday for all of this crap…_

"I didn't know!" The soon-to-be-dead brunette retorted back at Pretty Boy, seeming a tad offended that the other was seemingly trying to find a way to blame my reaction on him. But, I did have to admit that it was a little interesting to watch how he proceeded once backed into a corner—well, at least in his mind, anyways. "She's not like this in school! It's not like I follow her around to figure this kind of—"

I started when the egg timer on the stove went off, having not even noticed the scent of the _anpan_ in the oven beforehand. Now that I realized it, the smell of fresh bread and red beans wafted in the air almost as thickly as a fog might've. Even the people in Russia—or America, for that matter—might be able to get a pretty good whiff of it.

A pounding on the steps reminded me with a newfound sense of dread that someone else might've noticed it as well.

Knowing that I wouldn't be able to stop the impending doom that was about to befall my life, I face-palmed hard enough to give myself a headache as Dracomon stormed down the steps. The little idiot-dragon made a beeline for the kitchen, mumbling the only word that had ever had any importance to him, "Food, food, food, food, food, food, food, food!" He, finally noting that he wasn't alone, looked up briefly, but only seemed to see me. "Hi, Sumi-chan! You're home!" His greeting was accompanied by a wave and a toothy grin before he returned to getting his meal.

With a sigh, I put on a brave face and smiled back at my Digital friend. "Yeah, I'm home, all right," I strode away from the four humans at the table in favor of spending time with a creature that seemed much more similar to me. After giving Dracomon a slight push out of the way of the stove door, I grabbed an oven mitt and opened up the oven, getting a blast of hot air to my face the moment that I did. But all that warmness was accompanied by the wonderful smell of fresh baked _anpan_.

Dracomon waited patiently as I took the lightly browned _anpan_ out of the warmth of the oven and set the pan down on the top of the stove, allowing him to quickly snatch one and begin to sniff at it as if checking if it was still alive. "Be careful, all right? It's gonna be hot and I don't want you to burn yourself," I told him as I always did, though the concern was never faked whenever I did so. Most people would think I was weird for fearing that my dragon friend would be burned since they were fiery creatures after all, but I still made him be careful. Why takes chances when the consequence can be easily prevented by thinking smart, right?

"Oh, you worry too much, Sumi-chan," Dracomon mumbled, already preparing himself to dismiss my warning and stuff the whole thing into his eager mouth. But, after sensing just how hot the item was (probably from the steam billowing up around his snout), he took the advice that he'd gotten from observing Mrs. Sasaki and I and blew softly on the pastry before beginning to nibble almost politely on it.

I smiled at the almost sweet sight of my Digimon chewing away happily, forgetting for half a moment that we weren't the only two here. And that three of those other people with us would want to take Dracomon away as they did the egg. That, of course, would happen if they either tranquilized me and wiped my memory, or killed me. Both were in their list of options if I were to become something much worse than merely stubborn, but I wasn't so sure that they would let it get that far.

"...Um, Masumi?" Thomas raised a hand slowly and pointed at Dracomon in utter and absolute shock. His reaction surprised me since I knew for a fact that he had a Digimon of his own—all three of them must've—and he shouldn't have been all that astonished to have found another one. I mean, if the 'technology' that they used had picked up on the egg, how much more so would it have noted the presence of an actual Digimon? "How long…have you had that other Digimon? Did he just show up today?"

The how-the-hell-is-this-possible look on Thomas's face was starting to confuse the heck out of me—the fact that Marcus and Yoshi shared the same expression didn't help, either. "…He's been with me since I was little…" Yes. I was trying to force all of the guilt in the world onto him so that he wouldn't take Dracomon away. So sue me. "Why?" I came back over to the table with a newfound interest in the conversation. The gorging Digimon followed me and sat down to continue his little feast at my feet.

Thomas was silent for a moment at my answer, bringing his hand to his mouth as he thought, apparently trying to get a grip on things. Which, I couldn't say I blamed him for. I would've had a hard time taking it too if someone had just let me know that there was something seriously wrong with my little gadgets and gismos since they could pick up on an itty bitty egg but not on a Rookie-level Digimon. Since that's apparently what happened, and what was eating ravenously away at Thomas's poor brain.

However, it was the best thing since sliced bread if you were to ask the now grinning Marcus Damon. "And here I was told that 'there's no way that my radar could miss a single thing, no matter what it is'. Now, I wonder who told me that? Hm, Tommy, buddy?" The clearly pleased teen gave the now irritated blonde a playful punch in the shoulder, though the small gesture of cheerfulness nearly got him his head ripped off. I was sure of it, judging by the look in Thomas's eye.

But, instead of resorting to violence, Thomas merely returned the hazel-eyed boy's comment with a snappy one of his own, "Coming from the guy who thinks that his Math teacher is out to get him, that doesn't mean very much," The venom in his voice was hard not to miss, and if the blonde boy were a snake, he surely would've been able to kill all of us with a single word. Perhaps even a glance.

Momentarily forgetting what the three of them were there for, I found the need to add, "But he is out to get us," I don't think I'd ever seen somebody's eyes light up as fast—or as beautifully—as Marcus's did when I spoke up. I nearly forgot what I'd been saying. "…The guy's out to destroy the entire world, if you ask me. You'd figure that just by getting that glare that he gives with those beady little eyes of his—"

"Like getting a death-glare from a turkey. Or a chicken," Dracomon summarized from his spot leaning against my leg. I chuckled lightly and bopped the dragon's head gently with my knuckle; my form of a fist-bump when the creature didn't have a free hand. And, seeing how his arms were busy holding onto 'his share' of the _anpan_ (meaning all of it except for two: One for me and one for Mrs. Sasaki), now was a perfect example of the improvised gesture of friendship.

But Dracomon wasn't the only one who was ready with a comment. Jumping up from his seat and coming over to me with his arms extended in what seemed like gratitude, Marcus exclaimed in a cheerful tone, "Finally! Somebody understands!" He pulled up beside me and gave me a hard slap on the back that sent my sore muscles on fire before adding with a small laugh, "You may be in possession of a rogue Digimon, but you're all right in my book!" The sweet ring of his laughter graced me once more, and the realization of how close he was sent a hue of red brighter than the sun to light up my face.

I gulped; the blissful feeling that I felt deep within the core of my being wasn't normal. I didn't get it when I was around anyone except Marcus—even when we were just in a normal place like school, it was always there, hiding itself in the deepest, darkest folds of my mind. And it wasn't just Marcus; it was all three of them. There was something about them that I felt so comfortable with—

"If you two are done bonding over your teacher from hell," Yoshi said in a scolding voice that was directed entirely at Marcus. "We do still have a job to do, so…" She gestured pointedly at the seat that Marcus had abandoned in favor of standing next to me, and, reluctantly, Marcus obeyed and returned to his designated spot. Albeit, his following her orders was accompanied by a begrudging scowl.

"Now," Yoshi was the one to continue their little interrogation of me since Thomas was still trying to figure out why his computers and machines had been unable to spot Dracomon. I mean, it's not like it was hard to pick up on him. Especially with how much food he ate all the time—and that wasn't counting all of the shiny stuff that he enjoyed gnawing on. "Is there any way that we can convince you to let us take the egg to our headquarters?" A slight hint of desperation was evident in her voice; she was close to giving up.

Which, when I thought about it again, wasn't particularly a good thing. If they didn't come up with anything right here and now—and it was almost obvious that they had nothing—then they'd have to keep coming back time and time again until they got what they wanted, meaning Dracomon and that egg. But if I still refused, they'd probably find a way to just take the egg and Dracomon, find a way to not need my permission to get the egg. Even now they were probably being polite by asking for it.

However, after a moment of my silence, the other brunette in the room was struck by an idea. "You said that you wanna know the egg's going to be safe, right?" Marcus leaned forward in his chair and rested an arm on the top of the table, his body angled in my direction as he offered up his suggestion. I couldn't help but blush at the fact that he'd run the thought by me before his colleagues. "Then come to our headquarters with the us and the egg. We can show you everything there, and prove to you that there's nothing to be concerned about—"

"Marcus!" Thomas called him out quickly on his idea, and, judging by the tone of his voice, he wasn't too pleased with it. The brunette turned to face his frowning friend with an aggravated burning in his eyes. The clashing of their expressions made me feel uneasy; this might get a bit…shouty. "You know we can't do something like that!" _Why not? Especially when I—can't believe I'm thinking this, but—I'd be willing to go back with you._

While the thought that had come without so much as a warning continued to stew within the coiled fabrics of my mind, the battle between Marcus and Thomas remained at a reasonable level. Meaning, they weren't about to go snapping at one another's throats, so I didn't think to step in and say anything yet. I was still trying to think of any possible ways that my accepting to go along with Marcus's apparently foolish plan could come back to nip my butt.

"What's the big risk?" Marcus tossed back as he threw his hands up in exasperation at his companions, a gesture I assumed to be a go-ahead-and-say-something-smart-if-you've-got-it-otherwise-we've-got-no-other-choice sort of thing. But with a slightly sarcastic twist to it. "She knows about Digimon already, Thomas! She's got two of them, for crying out loud! Besides, it's not like either of you have given any better—"

I made my decision on impulse, interrupting Marcus's rant and cutting Yoshi off before she could squeeze a word in. "I'll go." All heads snapped in my direction and every single eye in the room stared me down with surprise at such a simple and blatant reply. Their silent gazes made me feel nervous and I felt my face flush. "I mean, I'd be willing to, if that's what the plan is going to be…" My eyes shifted between all of their gazes, though no one seemed quite sure what to do now.

Yoshi was the first to make a move. With a sigh, she rose from her seat and hit a button on her ear phone. She began to stride out of the room, calling over her shoulder with a hint of this-isn't-going-to-go-well hitch-hiking along in her tone, "I'll call the Commander and see what he thinks about it." An unnerving silence filled the room after her departure, though we could still hear the small noises that her phone made as well as her hushed voice.

But her conversation with their boss was soon too quiet for me to hear when Mrs. Sasaki—who'd been so quiet throughout all of this that I'd almost forgotten that she was here at all—piped up after what seemed like an eternity. "Why exactly is it so important that you get this egg now? You've never come for Dracomon before, so why should this egg be such a big deal?" The same question had passed fleetingly through my mind a good while ago, but I hadn't thought to voice it. I was glad that someone had, though.

"Well, it's actually just as big a shock to you as it is to us, Mrs. Sasaki," Thomas was the one to answer, his voice crisp and precise now that it was without the heavy blanket of confusion and astonishment. However, one could still hear it lingering in the back of his throat. "Our technology is incredibly hi-tech and is as advanced as possible in order to keep up with our demands, but…somehow, it was only able to pick up the egg being here. As of now, I'm not sure why Dracomon wasn't spotted.

"Regardless, it's vital that we have the egg; it's very rare for something like this to happen—it's rare for Digimon to end up in our world completely. There were a few problems about a year ago that should make it impossible for them to get here, but…I supposed that there are a few exceptions here and there. Digimon aren't supposed to be in this world, but they often come here in search of something, someone, or are just drawn in by something that they felt. Most tend to be impulsive if the situation they're in seems bleak and they've finally found a shred of hope.

"That egg is now one of many Digimon that have found their way to the human world, and it's important that it is put under control before it hatches. Baby Digimon are relatively harmless, but they only stay like that for a little while, and will grow up into a potential threat quite fast—not to mention the fact that they can be influenced very easily. If it finds itself in evil hands, there's no telling how much damage could be done before stopped.

"And as for Dracomon…" Thomas paused momentarily, as if considering how much more he was willing to explain to the two of us about the situation. As if he wanted his questions answered far more than he wanted to answer ours. But that was understandable; I was feeling that way right about now as well. "If we'd known that he was trespassing in the human world earlier, I can assure you that we wouldn't have hesitated to remove him."

After saying this, the blonde shot me a hard look that made my muscle tense as if readying themselves to slug it out with a thug. It was simple to tell what he was thinking, what he kept himself from adding to avoid my shutting down and refusing to cooperate again: _No matter what stunt you would've tried to pull, we would've done it. For the safety of everyone else in this city, and in this world._

I understood his reasoning—I wasn't cold and uncaring toward the world, I just didn't fit into it in quite the way that everyone else seemed to. But that didn't mean that I didn't feel anything for it or the people that called it home. I knew what Dracomon was, the potential that existed deep within him to be a different monster than what he was right now. A beast with a want to fight, a need for destruction and chaos and pain. I knew that he could be something like that.

But I also knew that he wasn't. Nor would he ever be.

Thomas had been about to address me with another question that I assumed would've regarded Dracomon when the phone conversation in the other room caught everyone's attention. It no longer had its hush-hush quiet demeanor, and had changed into a loud and perturbed noise as it began to fill with unanswered questions and befuddlement. Yoshi was trying to fit in questions but was apparently being continually cut off, then needing to answer an inquiry herself.

The questions seemed random and disorderly, without a true topic or reason for their being asked, but the one that captured me the most was the simplest one of all: Whoever Yoshi was talking to, he seemed to be asking again and again for a confirmation of my name. "…Yes, sir, I'm positive. Masumi Chano-Nemoto. Her mother remarried a few years ago, but the girl kept her biological…" The silence that followed her statement made me incredibly uneasy. I could feel my stomach filling with anxiety as blood drained from my face.

One questions droned on over and over again in my head: Who the hell was their boss that he was so interested in my freaking _name_?

A small beeping sound reverberated throughout the quiet house as Yoshi ended the phone call with a final, "Yes, sir." She moved slowly back into the room that the rest of us were gathered in, and my head snapped around to look at her before she'd even come through the doorway. I needed to analyze her face, read her for any kind of sign that might tell me something, answer one of my questions, still one of my unknown fears.

But I found nothing. Absolutely nothing. Except for confusion and a plain and blatant 'what the heck just happened?' thought that seemed to be stamped upon the young adult's forehead. Her dark, wine-colored eyes were saturated in a state of cluelessness as she stated, her eyes skimming slowly across everyone in the room before stopping and resting heavily upon me, "…He said that you need to come back with us. It's really, really important, but he didn't tell me why…" She trailed off slowly as Mrs. Sasaki put her head in her hands with a small sound of worry.

Seeing that his friend was upset, Dracomon rose from his spot by my feet and did his little waddle-walk over to the older woman. He touched her shoulder very gently with a scaly 'hand', being careful not to prick her with the tip of one of his claws. "Nothing bad is gonna happen, Mrs. S. He probably just wants to meet me because I'm awesome, and figured that Sumi-chan wouldn't let me go alone," With those encouraging words, the small dragon turned to me and gave me a toothy grin. "Well? Can I go see him? He might want an autograph, you know, and those things are best given in person."

I stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out if he was being serious or not. Finding myself without a positive answer, a small smile wandered onto my lips and I shook my head in utter disbelief at the being before me. "Yeah, Dracomon. That's exactly what he wants…" Never would it become normal to be, how cheerful this little creature could be. Or how he could find such a bright note in such a seemingly dark moment. It was amazing how some people—and Digimon—could have such a mind. I envied them.

The smile dropped quickly from my face when I saw that Mrs. Sasaki had obviously not been convinced by Dracomon that everything would be all right with me. It hurt to see her so worried about me, especially when I wasn't even related to her at all. She still cared about me so much, though, despite that fact that I was only here to get away from my real family. I knew that I tended to be a weird kid sometimes, but I'd never thought about how it might affect the woman who had taken me in without so much as a single moment of hesitation.

There was a deep need within my heart to say something to make her worry cease to be, to do something that might comfort her, make her smile. But nothing came to mind; my body did nothing but stand there uselessly. I never knew what to do in moments like this, not with other humans. I always knew what to do for Dracomon—I knew him so well, and I didn't have to worry about him judging me because that wasn't in his nature. I doubted that he knew how to judge someone. But…I couldn't comfort other people. I didn't think I knew how to do it right.

Thankfully, though, Yoshi saw the trouble that I was having and stepped in the still my guardian's troubled heart. "You don't have to worry, ma'am. Masumi isn't in any trouble—aside from being as stubborn as she was and keeping two Digimon from us. Our boss just wants to have a quick word with her, I suppose, and he's a good guy despite the secrecy. I'll bring her back as fast as I can." Mrs. Sasaki seemed to calm slightly, but she didn't move from her spot. She didn't look up as Dracomon and I were escorted out of the room by the three DATS agents either.

However, I did steal a quick glance back at her as we started around the corner and toward the front door, my last chance to see her before the dark of the night engulfed me. She hadn't sat up yet, hadn't moved an inch. Her usually warm eyes were cold and distant, and her mouth was frozen in a shocked and almost frightened pose. It looked like she'd just heard something speaking to her when there was no one else around her. Like she was hearing something in her head.

Of course, that clearly couldn't be. It was just what her expression looked like to me.

"She'll be all right," I turned to face Marcus, who was currently at my right hand, a little shocked that he'd spoken up. He returned my gaze as Yoshi opened the front door, and the steadily brightening moonlight reflecting in his hazel eyes nearly sent my heart on another fainting-spree. "We'll get you to the Commander and get everything figured out, and she'll have you back before you know it. It'll be all right. Okay?" There was a soft, comforting smile playing on his lips as he gave a now paralyzed me a nudge in the back, trying to get me to follow Thomas and Dracomon out the door.

Breathing was now impossible. Moving was out of the question as well, and if Marcus hadn't prodded me, I probably wouldn't have been able to get out the door at all. There was no question about it now: I was infatuated with this boy. And for no reason other than the fact that I felt…different around him compared to other people. That sole sensation had hypnotized me, dropped me to my hands and knees and had me completely subdued. I'd never felt something so strong before, and I had no idea whatsoever what the hell it was.

But that wasn't what should've been on my mind right then. I physically shook my head to rid my brain of romantic thoughts, not considering once how it might look to Marcus. He didn't seem bothered by my odd behavior, though, so that was a nice change of pace. I returned the smile that he had graced me with and mumbled something that sounded like, "I hope so." However, my tongue was having issues working properly at the moment, and my brain wasn't sure what was going on either, so I really could've said anything.

Nevertheless, as I walked out the door with him close behind me, the slightly chilly air snapped me back into reality. I realized that I was going somewhere I'd never been before with people that I barely knew to meet someone that was strangely eager to talk to me. Anything could happen, and, given the proper motive and an opportunity, everything bad that had even the slightest chance of going wrong, _would_ go wrong.

That knowledge didn't bother me, though. Not while Dracomon was here with me. I was safe with him. And there was a small worm of a thought at the back of my mind telling me that I was safe with Marcus, Thomas, and Yoshi as well.


	3. Chapter 3: Crazy

**Even**** though I was supposed to work on my Frontier story and not this one, I'm still happy that I got this chapter done XD It's becoming a lot of fun to work with this series, and I can't wait until I get a little deeper into the story and get to write some pretty awesome parts for you guys :D**

**I'm still a little iffy as of right now when it comes to the timeline and when everything happened and all that, but it should be able to pull itself together by the time that it's actually important. Until then, if I make a little mistake regarding time, don't worry about it-it was probably intentional ;D**

**Also be warned, if you haven't seen the entire season, there are going to be a couple of spoilers in this story, and some examples are going to end up being in this chapter. It's a really great season if you give it a chance to get the ball rolling, and even though it's not like the other seasons, it still has the elements that all the other seasons revolved around: Friendship, never giving up, standing up for what you believe in, etc. Each season has its message, and Data Squad is the same in that aspect.**

**Anyways, please enjoy this chapter and let me know what you thought! :)**

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Chapter 3: Crazy

The steadily dimming sunlight cast an almost romantic feel across the whole city with the way that the reds and golds made the clouds appear as silhouettes in the darkening sky. I caught glimpses of the ocean between the buildings and trees, intrigued and entranced by the bright shimmering of the water brought on by the brilliance of the fading light. I couldn't remember seeing many sunsets more beautiful than this one.

That was what I tried so hard to focus on as Yoshi drove the squad car to the HQ building.

My mouth was so dry that one might think I'd never heard of something called 'water', let alone anything else that might rid me of this irritation. The rapid pounding taking place within my chest was beginning to drive me insane, and it wasn't helping that it was only forcing more and more blood into my cheeks. Palms sweaty, hands fisted in my lap, my knees shaking as if I were freezing to death and me trying to mask it by bouncing my feet…

I was going pretty much nuts because I was sitting in the backseat with Marcus Damon and the only thing separating us was Dracomon. It was freaking me out _immensely_.

I tried to distract myself by asking another question. "So, why exactly does your boss want to see me again? You said that he…recognized my name, or something?" I glanced around at the three of them, not sure who the one to answer the most current of my never-ending questions would be this time. Thomas had been doing the majority of replying—with Marcus adding in little quips whenever he saw fit—but by the look on his face (which I could see, thanks to the side mirror), I could tell Thomas was getting a bit tired of my nervous chit-chat.

So, Yoshi answered instead. "It seems that way. He didn't really explain, like I said before. He needed me to be sure that your last name was 'Chano', so I guess your father means something to him." I made a small 'hm' noise at her note, returning to staring out the window with my heartbeat now under control since my mind was occupied by something other than my close proximity to the hazel-eyed Marcus. And honestly, I was surprised that it had taken my mind so long to begin pondering this.

My father had been an ordinary man, as far as I could remember, with a normal job and a normal life. He'd had a normal wife, he'd had a normal kid—well, he'd had a kid—a family like anyone else in the world would've had. There was nothing abnormal about the life that he'd lived, really, except for how young he'd died. But it hadn't been his fault. It hadn't been anybody's fault.

I couldn't think of one instance when my dad would've had a run-in with these DATS people, or with Digimon. He'd never had any contact at all with the creatures before as far as I was aware. Never seen them, heard of them, nothing. Then again, not a lot of people probably had—or if they had, they most likely had had absolutely no idea what they'd witnessed.

Though, I knew my father well. If he actually had gotten into contact with a Digimon somehow, he wouldn't have stopped there. He would've continued on, wanting, needing to know more and more about the beings until there was nothing left to know about them. He might've even wanted to go to their world, or find a way to bring one to our world. Who knows what he would've done?

But he hadn't done any of that. He'd never been around Digimon. I knew it.

_So, if that's all true, then how does that Sampson guy know about my dad? Why would he matter to him? _A few questions turned into a handful, and more and more handfuls began to accumulate until my entire mind was nothing but unanswered and unanswerable inquiries that would either make or break the many wonderings floating around in my head. Each word that crossed my mind caused more befuddlement to appear wherever it went.

"What did your father do when you were growing up?" I was pulled from my little thought-box when Marcus's voice sounded smoothly in my mind. I felt my face heat up a little as I looked over at him, but a surge of relief passed over me when I realized that the redness of the setting sun might hide the redness of my face. However, the knowledge of how pathetic it was for me to be so disgruntled over one person was also ringing in my head. "Do you remember anything out of the ordinary?"

I lowered my eyes to the floor of the car, trying hard to concentrate, to bring up thoughts I hadn't allowed in my head for years. _I…remember things…but none of them are important…_ "…No," I stated finally, keeping my eyes down as I continued to dig around in my foggy mind. "He was the _definition_ of 'ordinary'…He worked for some computer company or something. He was the guy you went to if something went wrong, the mind behind a lot of the newest designs.

"I remember that he used to spend a lot of his free time working on new ideas and whatnot, but…" I bit my lower lip, struggling to find a way to express just how impossible that it was that my dad could've been involved in all of this Digimon stuff. He was too smart to have thought to take such a risk as what being wrapped up in this could bring! He had a family to think about, he couldn't just go off and do whatever! "But there's no way he could've met your boss…"

I trailed off into silence as the thought that maybe I was wrong and he had somehow gotten mixed up with Digimon and DATS trilled loudly in my brain. He had been a smart man, but even intelligent people tended to get themselves into situations that they couldn't walk away from. And Digimon were definitely things that fell into that category. _It's just…impossible…_

I raised a hand to my throbbing temple as more 'what if's crossed my mind. There was always a chance that Dad had run across something about Digimon while he was studying—I had no idea what he would've found, but it was a possibility. Then again, maybe he'd known about them for a while but had never said anything to me about them so that I wouldn't end up like I was now: Being carted off by the Digimon police.

"…Masumi," After having been silent for quite some time now, Thomas decided it was about time he asked me another series of questions. Most of the ones that he'd inquired of me before I'd been unable to actually give a proper reply. Perhaps he was hoping that I might be of use this time. "I know that this is a very difficult subject, but it's rather important that I know exactly how your father passed away." My heart dropped into the soles of my shoes. I remembered this.

But I wished I didn't.

I could see Thomas's reflection in the side-view mirror, and saw his expression was conflicted, troubled by his own question. I couldn't stop myself from wondering why. "You see, I wouldn't normally ask something like that, but…" He paused for a moment to glance back at me via the same mirror through which I stole glimpses of him. However, the blonde quickly pulled his gaze away. "But the report given afterwards didn't give a clear picture as to what happened, and I need to know to—"

"Thomas, you do realize that we're not investigating anything, right? We're just taking her to Sampson so he can say 'hi', and then we're taking her back home. End of story." Marcus's voice was heavy with a severe kind of seriousness that I'd heard many times before, always when my father was brought up. But…I'd never been…_defended_ before in those moments. _No, don't think that! He's just doing what he thinks is right; it doesn't matter._

I wasn't sure what to think, nor did I have even the slightest clue as to what I thought of _him_. There had been something from the very start that had drawn me in, something that I hadn't noticed before when we'd first met. There was a power within him—a power within all of them, really—that made me feel…like I wasn't the only one in the world anymore. I wasn't sure what it was (and I knew I might never learn what it was) but still. It was nice to know that there might be someone else that felt the same things I did.

Of course, I'd never tell any of them any of that crazy mumbo-jumbo, especially not Marcus. If I ended up being wrong and he had never felt anything different than what any other human might, then I'd just make myself to be a complete nutcase! I mean, sure, a bunch of other people already thought that about me and there was no doubt in my mind that he'd heard it from plenty of our classmates, but there was a big difference between hearing it and experiencing it for yourself.

And, well, I…I felt very hopeful about Marcus, about all three of these people. It was hard to explain, and I didn't really understand why myself, but I did nevertheless.

That was why it was all right if they knew how my father died. It was okay if I 'remembered' for a little while. My mind wouldn't be plagued by the actual images since I hadn't been there to witness the accident anyways. "…He…he had to go and check up on some machinery at a factory that made the products his corporation planned, and…somehow he got caught in one of the machines and was—"

A deafening, loathing growl from Dracomon quickly silenced me, and I snapped my head up to see what the problem was. The petite dragon's head was arched back with his mouth open wide, a bright light beginning to glow in the back of his throat. The red horns atop his head were also beginning to shine brilliantly in the darkness of the car. His usually kind eyes were filled with rage, his pupils having shrunk to mere pinpoints.

He was facing Marcus, whose face expressed a mix of panic and bewilderment at the unexpected change. My stomach dropped as if filled with lead, now heavy with dread as I realized what was going on. I wasn't sure exactly how, but Marcus must've touched the scale on Dracomon that he hated—and I mean _hated_—being touched at. Whenever he was touched there, no matter if it was just a simple brush or a light scrape, he flew into a blind rage and would attack whatever he thought had touched him.

I heard Yoshi and Thomas both shout something, but I paid no attention to them. I barely even thought about what I was supposed to do to stop my Digimon before I was already acting. Lunging for the creature, I clamped his mouth shut with both my hands, the gold band lightly hitting the side of his face as I did. "Dracomon, stop!" I couldn't remember wanting my mouth to speak, but it had done so anyway.

Everything around us stopped. I could hear someone's breathing, nervous and heavy, but it was soon lost to me when Dracomon turned and looked back at me. His eyes were wide and confused like a puppy's after having been scolded for something it hadn't realized it was doing wrong. "Sumi-chan?" The small creature's voice was no different, a mere squeak compared to his normal tone. "Did I do something wrong, Sumi-chan?"

"You sure as heck were about to!" An irritated Marcus grumbled with a scowl cast at the completely and utterly oblivious Digimon. "What in the world was that about?!" While Dracomon blinked at him unapologetically, clearly not seeing the wrong in his action (if he even remembered it. He tended to forget things quickly when that scale was touched), Marcus gave an irate sigh and looked to me instead for some kind of an explanation.

"Uh…" _...I have no idea._ I honestly didn't know why Dracomon reacted in such a way whenever that particular spot was brushed up against. I only knew that he did it, and if you wanted to avoid him doing such a thing, you had to be careful about where you touched him. As far as I knew, the 'do not touch' scale was on his tail somewhere. But still, I couldn't explai—

"The Gekirin scale! Of course! That's explains everything!" Thomas exclaimed with a partial face-palm for not having thought of it right off the bat. While I, on the other hand, had never known that the scale had had a specific name. "Whenever touched there, Dracomon lose their mind to an excess of anger and generally fire their G-Shurunen attack. Which you—" He cast an unimpressed expression at Marcus. "—were almost hit with because you weren't being careful."

Before a now enraged Marcus could get a word in to defend himself, Thomas's gaze fell upon me with a hint of bafflement residing within his eyes. "But what I don't know is how you were able to stop him so easily. Dracomon are known to be ferocious and violent creatures, so how could you tame such a thing like what you have?" An expectant silence drowned everyone in the car, each person eager to hear what I would say.

But I didn't know what to say. Dracomon had never been vicious or anything of the sort. He'd come to me when I was young, and he'd never changed since. In a world of variables, he had always been and would continue to be my constant. "I guess…I don't know," I said finally, offering Dracomon a soothing smile as I stroked the top of his head. "It seems like you don't know Digimon as well as you thought you did."

* * *

"This place is huge…" I muttered in awe, gazing around at the DATS building with my mouth agape. It was incredible to be in a place as big as this. It had looked gigantic from the outside, and had proved to be just that the moment that I'd been brought inside, led by Yoshi and Thomas. Dracomon seemed quite impressed as well, and I knew that if the egg I was carrying could see, it would be as well.

Marcus walked beside me, an amused grin tugging on the corner of his mouth. He was about to make a comment (unmistakably about how I was shorter, so most things would seem big to me), but was halted when a laugh came from nowhere, only for me to see its owner when the device hanging around Marcus's neck began to glow. Within seconds, an orange, dinosaur-like Digimon a fair amount bigger than Dracomon appeared in front of me.

I came to a quick stop to avoid tripping over the creature, who was now smiling up at me in a confident and prideful pose as he said, "Well, when you get to be as big and strong as me, nothing is huge anymore!" The yellow Digimon was, now that I got a good look at him, much larger than Dracomon (in both width and height), and with more teeth as well. There were red training braces wrapped around his three-clawed hand, but he seemed to be incredibly friendly, which made me smile.

However, his presence seemed to agitate Marcus and the other two. With a groan, Marcus face-palmed. "Agumon, you're not supposed to come out of the Digivice unless I tell you to! I thought we had this sorted out a while ago!" I glanced again at the black and orange device around the brunette's neck, noting that Thomas and Yoshi also had a similar one on their person. _That must be the Digivice he's talking about…It looks…strangely familiar… _

I didn't get to ponder about the device for very long, though. Distracted from my thoughts when I felt something nudge around my leg, I looked down and had a miniature heart attack when I saw Dracomon there. There was a distant and intrigued sparkle in his eye as he and Agumon stared at one another. The antlered dragon had never been around another Digimon that wasn't in egg form before, so I was a little nervous about how he was going to react.

But I shouldn't have worried. The moment that it clicked in his mind that if he was nice he'd have a new friend, he instantly became his usual self. After the two Digimon exchanged enthusiastic little 'hello's, Dracomon did the first thing that he always did when he met someone new: He started a game for them to play. He'd done it with me, and he would've done the same with Mrs. Sasaki if I hadn't stopped him.

"We should race!" He chimed in that sweetly innocent tone that always made me wonder if there was a single fiber in his mind that knew there were bad things in the world. "One, two, three, go!" The petite Digimon shot off like a cannon, shocking the other creature both by how quickly a greeting had escalated into a competition and by how fast Dracomon had shot off.

But it didn't bother him for long, and Agumon was soon rushing after Dracomon, laughing and shouting after him, "Wait! You don't even know where you're going!" The four of us watched in a shocked silence as the two shot off down the hallway. Marcus was about to call after his partner Digimon, but stopped and let out a groan when he realized that there was no getting him back. Dracomon had that effect on things. He tended to make you forget about serious things and think only of fun and happiness.

Maybe that was why he was my Digimon.

Continuing on and beginning to near a set of automatic doors, I offered the brunette a slightly apologetic smile as I said with a chuckle, "I guess we're gonna have to start making play-dates for those two." I could almost imagine it as I spoke: Dracomon zipping all over the place collecting shiny things, then having Agumon help him sort out which ones were edible and which ones should be used in the game 'Will It Burn?' (Yeah. Both were games he made me play with him).

"Yeah," Marcus laughed, probably imagining how well it would go thanks to some of the antics of his own Digimon. I couldn't help but notice how his eyes seemed to glow when he smiled, when he laughed. He had such a unique laugh; it was so carefree and smooth despite the flow being interrupted by little snorts here and there, but even that was somehow endearing. It was contagious, hard to fight. And part of me didn't want to. "It'll be nice having somebody right—"

"Need I remind you that Dracomon is a rogue Digimon?" Thomas's voice was solid and emotionless, aside from the slightest irritation towards the boy walking beside me. I wasn't sure what the term 'rogue' was supposed to mean here, but I knew that it sounded like something bad and that I probably didn't want to ask and find out for sure. Besides, most of Thomas's annoyance was because of me and my questions anyway, so asking another wouldn't be the best idea.

Yoshi, noting the slightly darkened mood that fell over the little group, decided to pick everyone up with a little…humor. "Besides, what would you two do while your Digimon played? Would you go on a _real_ date, then? Ha!" It took a second or two for Yoshi's giggled words to completely sink in, but when they did, I wished like hell that they hadn't. I felt my face heating up like a growing flame at the very thought of being alone with that boy, especially now that all these stupid, fluttery, butterfly-feelings ran rampant within me.

An embarrassed Marcus went to make a comment, growling at the joke made by the eldest here, but was cut off once again by Blondie. "Yeah, Marcus on a date," A grin at the mockery of and the exasperated state of his friend broke across Thomas's face. "Don't make me laugh. He's a fighter, not a lover. No ifs, ands, or buts about it." He chuckled so quietly that it was almost inaudible while Yoshi laughed in agreement, but Marcus seemed to hear it, and retaliated with a 'shut up' and a small punch to Thomas's back.

After that was settled, we walked through a set of automatic doors and into a room filled with impressive technological equipment. Computer screens and all kinds of other machines were scattered throughout the room, and a tall man wearing a dark blue trench coat that appeared to be a higher-up version of the other three's uniforms was standing behind a sort of desk.

_Oh, I see. This must be that…Commander Sampson guy—their boss. _I glanced around the room briefly as I was led in, Dracomon still nowhere to be seen. There were two other women about Yoshi's age here in the room with us, but they were too busy typing away at their own computers to pay any mind to us, aside from a curious glance back to see who'd come in. Their gaze lingered for a moment on me; Sampson had spoken to them of me, I could tell by the way they tried not to meet my stare.

Feeling out of place and anxious, I gripped the egg in my arms tightly to hide the evidence of their shaking and to keep them from nervous nitpicking. The sensations became stronger as Sampson turned around; the three DATS agents who'd brought me stood in a line and saluted quickly, naturally, a gesture of respect that none of them seemed to question. He acknowledged them with a nod, but his attention was far more focused on me.

While mine, on the other hand, was focused on the white, ferret-looking Digimon hanging around the man's neck. It wasn't simply that there was a Digimon there—there were at least three other Digimon here in the room with us, and I was sure that Yoshi and Thomas had Digimon as well—however, it was what the creature had around its neck. A gold band very similar to mine was there around its neck. And, judging by the astonished look that sprang into its eyes, it had noticed this as well.

Sampson didn't seem quite as surprised, though I knew that he'd seen it, too. What stunned me, though, was the small smile that slipped across his face as he strode over to the four of us, coming to a stop before me. "Masumi Chano. It's been quite a while since I last saw you, hasn't it?" Reading the 'Um…what did you just say?' look on my face, the man laughed and explained. "I don't expect you to remember me; you were knee-high to a grasshopper when we first met. I was good friends with your father back in the day."

I stood frozen, my heartbeat silent and shocked, body assaulted by chills due to the somewhat startling news. This man _knew_ me—this man had known my father! So, it was true, then. My father must've had some kind of run-in with Digimon before. Perhaps he'd even been in a jam like I was now, having been picked up by the Digimon police for having a small dragon and an egg. Well, probably not for those same reasons exactly, but still. The point was that my dad had somehow found out about Digimon.

"…I'm sorry, but I really don't remember you at all," I admitted with a strangled and partially sheepish grin. It was difficult to smile when I talked about my dad. It was better than before, though, since I was actually able and allowed to talk about him now. Mom didn't like it when I mentioned him, but she wasn't here. "How did my father meet you? He was so…" Not knowing what word to use, I made random gestures with my hands, trying to show that he wouldn't have let himself get involved in all of this crap.

Sampson's face was shrouded for a moment by something that was gone too fast for me to figure out what it was, but his voice hadn't changed. "I'm not surprised, it has to have been over twelve years by now. But, if you don't mind my asking…" He paused, unsure whether or not he should actually bring up what was on his mind. In the end, he did. "How much do you recall about your father?" The entire room seemed to grow deathly silent at the question, but I ignored the quiet.

Pretending to clear my throat to give myself some more time to think, I wondered for a split second why this man might ask me such a thing. "I, uh…" I bit my lip, struggling to think of something to say. A handful of memories passed through my head, but I had a feeling that that wasn't what Sampson was referring to. "I don't know. He worked for a place that made all kinds of computers and stuff, got into an accident that really cost him while on the job. I guess, I don't know what you want me to tell you…"

Sampson looked solemnly at me for a moment, his mind seeming to buzz with thoughts as a hive buzzes incessantly with bees. He wondered about something for a moment, but then stored it away in the back of his mind to ponder at a later time, switching the conversation to a topic that was a bit more important than merely catching up.

"I hear you have a Digimon—two of them," He pointed at the egg that was still in my hands. I tried to keep a guilty look from creeping onto my face as he continued, his voice gaining a strict tone, very straightforward and solid. However, my attention was stolen from his words when Dracomon and Agumon came into the room, Dracomon running over to my side immediately while Agumon collapsed on the floor in exhaustion.

Panting, the yellow Digimon rolled onto his back and mumbled breathlessly, "Wow, he's fast…" Dracomon, the side of his head leaning against my thigh, grinned and chuckled at the quip of his new friend. It didn't seem to bother him at all, the possibility of being taken from me. Maybe because he trusted that I would be able to get us out of any jams. _If something like that happens, I really hope he's right…_

"You should know," Sampson continued unfazed, as if the two had never burst in. But while I was still processing what had gone on, one of the Digimon that had been by the two girls on the other side of the room had come over and taken the egg from me. "That Digimon aren't supposed to be in this world." Before I could protest or do anything to stop it, the shiny, black creature had walked silently from the room, leaving my hands empty and strangely cold now that the egg was not cradled in them.

An anxious, flee-rather-than-fight sensation began to fill me. If they were taking the egg, then I could be sure that they would take Dracomon as well. I reached a hand down and touched his head, kept my eyes on Sampson's. "Then what do you do with the ones that do come here?" Dracomon's head twisted under my hand; I glanced over where he was looking at saw that two other Digimon had appeared.

I kept my eye on them, a blue wolf-like one standing near Thomas and a pink creature with a yellow leaf-ish projection coming off the top of its head, as the man before me spoke again. "All Digimon who come to this world without proper admittance are to be turned back into their egg form and be taken to a holding chamber where they will be able to safely await the day that they are allowed back into the Digital World—"

"Wait, what do you mean 'allowed'?" I knew it was rude to cut him off like that, but it was so strange of him to use such a word when he made it seem so…necessary that they go back. "I thought that _you_ guys were the ones who sent them back—however you do that. Why would you make them wait?" Feeling Dracomon get over his moment of hesitation regarding the other Digimon, I put a bit of force into the way my hand rested on him. I didn't want him to leave my side now.

Sampson was about to open his mouth when Thomas, appearing disgruntled and confused, stopped him. "Um, sir?" He took a couple of steps forward and his Digimon followed suit steadily, obediently. Dracomon slinked around my legs so that I was between him and Thomas. "I know that you…know her, but is it really a good idea for us to be telling her all of this? She's an accomplice to several rogue Digimon after all."

"That may be, Thomas," Sampson replied as he looked to the sapphire-eyed blonde, glancing up momentarily at the other two as well, since they seemed to share Thomas's thoughts to an extent. "You'll understand soon enough. I'll explain everything at a later time." With a somewhat defeated but not-surrendering ember burning in his eyes, Thomas submitted and remained silent. But his curious gaze stayed upon me like a predator to its prey; I gulped and looked away from him.

Returning his attention to me, the tall, dark-haired man, despite the disapproval of his employees, answered me with a strong voice, "You're right to wonder about that. It probably does seem odd of us to do, but you need to understand that if we could, we would send them back to the Digital World right away. We were able to do so through a device called the Digital Dive—that machine right over there," He pointed to a mass of lights and metal across the room, something that looked similar to those weird vats you see in science fiction movies where the human experiment is floating in it.

"But now," he continued in a slightly lower tone, his face shadowed for a moment by gloom, "something on the other side keeps it from opening. It's been stuck like this for close to a year now, and it doesn't seem like it will be opening anytime soon. And yet somehow Digimon are still able to cross over to our world, as if the one who holds it closed doesn't mind if some get out as long as we don't get in.

"I know it sounds strange—believe me, I found it hard to swallow as well—but until we're able to uncover just who has locked the gate between the human world and the Digital one, there's nothing that we can do for those eggs except keep them safe and alive until we can find a way to get them back to the world they belong in." Even though I really wasn't sure I understood, I made a sound that said otherwise.

However, I couldn't stop myself from asking more questions. "I see. But how do you plan to figure out who that is if you can't go and actually find the guy? I mean, you'd have to get back in eventually, right?" There were so many foggy patches, so many loose ends and unanswered inquiries that his words kept on conjuring up…Why was he explaining all this to me anyway? Thomas was right; I wasn't one of them, so why was he talking to me about something that should be confidential?

Was it…because he knew my father? Did all of this—the huge ordeal with him needing to be sure about my name, dragging me down here because of whose daughter I was, the hoopla about the portal being closed off—revolve around my dad somehow? Or maybe something he'd done? The gold band around my wrist, it looked so much like the one Sampson's Digimon was wearing…could it be true? Had my father led some kind of secret life?

I jumped with a startled yelp when the normal lights changed into flashing red ones and an unexpected alarm began to go off, the noise synchronized with the blinking, crimson glow. Dracomon, a fan of light and shiny things, stared up at the ceiling as the lights continued their dance with the blaring alarm. I, however, wasn't quite so easily distracted, and looked to Sampson for some kind of explanation.

But he wasn't looking at me. Instead, his gaze rested on the trio that had brought me here, and he ordered them in a voice full of authority, "Head out and take care of the threat. Miki and Megumi—" I assumed that they were the two girls still typing away at their computers. "—will send you the coordinates when we get a more definite reading on its signature." With a nod and a salute, Yoshi and Thomas returned their Digimon quickly to their little devices and started out.

Marcus, I figured, would've followed suit if his Digimon hadn't still been half-passed out on the floor. Striding over to the creature with his hands on his hips, the teen nudged his partner with the toe of his boot. "C'mon, ya faker, get up. We've got a fight on our hands! Let's go already!" The excitement in his voice tugged on the corner of my lips, trying to get me to smile. I covered my mouth for a second to re-compose myself, but I couldn't keep my eyes from watching the scene play out.

"But, Booosss!" Agumon whined as he tried to push Marcus's foot away feebly, his attempt failing quite miserably. He made a move to roll away but decided against it half-way through his first roll, and simply flopped back over onto the floor. "I'm wasting away here, Boss! I need food before I can so much as move!" The yellow Digimon continued to moan and groan about how hungry he was and a number of other excuses before Marcus acted.

Grabbing hold of the Digimon's arm, a determined and stubborn look flashed across the red-uniformed teen's face for a second as he remarked with a mischievous smirk, "Fine, then," The boy then heaved his not-so-small partner Digimon over his shoulder and onto his back with a small grunt at the effort of lifting the heavy creature, though he made it look easy. "I'll carry you into the fight." I tried to rub away my smile with my fingers, but it wouldn't leave.

Marcus's expression changed to blank surprise when he felt he was being watched by someone (and really, the show Agumon put on was so sad that everyone in the room aside from me hadn't even looked), and he turned, seeing that that person had been me. Blushing brightly at the lightning-feeling that shot through my veins at his glance, my eyes snapped to the top of my Digimon's head. I knew Marcus had seen me, but I wasn't sure if the little smile he'd given me was real or just in my imagination.

Suddenly realizing just how much time he was wasting standing here, Marcus broke into a run and rushed after his team. His Digimon, on the other hand, waved a good-bye to Dracomon and I from Marcus's back, which I smiled at a bit and Dracomon returned. I could still feel the light burning on my face, like I had been standing over an open flame, even now that they were gone. I would probably still feel it after I got back home, maybe longer.

But, at the current moment, I didn't have the time to lull myself into a dream-state where I could think of all kinds of stupid, foolish, never-gonna-happen moments. Honestly, my mind was just one big story—in the genre of fantasy, of course. There was no truth, no hope, no chance of anything that I imagined or dreamed ever coming to be, and with good reason. Someone like me—an outsider, a loner, someone that everyone preferred to avoid—could never actually _be _with anybody. It went against the laws made by society.

I mean, it was depressing and a very pessimistic-like thing to be thinking, but I couldn't help the fact that it was true. People who always stood off to the side on their own, never really opening their mouth or their heart…normal people were _afraid_ of that because it wasn't what everyone else tended to do. They didn't know what to think of people who would rather be alone because, in their minds, no one liked being alone. They didn't understand.

There was a vibe of some kind that people like that—people like me—gave off that was basically like an alarm saying, 'Warning! Warning!' whenever someone came near. It sounded crazy and was a little sad to think that I really believed that that was the sort of impression I had on others, but it was true. And I agree, it is insane that such a gut feeling makes any difference in how people treat others, but I would be a hypocrite if I said I didn't do it.

It was because of a gut-feeling that I spent so much time with Marcus when we were at school.

Something was…different about him, and I'd noticed it the very first time that I saw him. It wasn't that stupid, romantic crap about 'love at first sight' or anything idiotic like that, obviously. I didn't believe that the world today really knew what love was anymore, so why would anyone be able to feel it in a single instant? No, it wasn't something like that.

What it was…was probably something that was even crazier than that romantic stuff—all of it, not just the 'love at first sight' scheme. It was more like somewhere, deep inside the confines of my memory, past the memories that were too cloudy for me to understand what they were, far beyond the parts of my mind that I couldn't control…I knew him already. I'd seen him, met him before. I _knew_ him.

His name had been familiar to me that first day that he'd caught me in the hall and told it to me. I'd given myself an unimaginably horrid headache thinking about why the hell it had seemed like I'd heard it before. I'd seen that gaze before, felt it bear down upon me like the beginnings of a storm. I remembered that laugh, that voice—but those two…only to a certain point. They weren't as familiar, but then again a lot of things about him weren't. His eyes, though…I recalled them the best.

All of that could be explained pretty simply, I knew. A lot of people—had I actually told anyone about this issue of mine—would brush it off as my having seen him on the street before or something easy to understand and accept like that. But there was more. A thousand little, almost unnoticeable moments had passed between us in the time that I'd been in his class, ranging from words exchanged to simple things that the both of us had done without thinking, like picking up a book or whatever that the other had dropped.

But I knew that, despite all of our topic-less conversations and all the odd scenes that Marcus and I had played through, never once had I been told that he liked frogs (yes, I knew how stupid it sounded, but it was true). I was surer of that than anything else in the world. We really didn't talk, and when we did, we didn't talk about things like that—about ourselves beyond a brief overview of the day. I knew for sure that we'd never discussed frogs before, but I'd had the feeling that he was fond of them for quite a while now, even before we started talking.

That was why I was so freaked out by him sometimes, and especially now that my mind was beginning to dull and think that pining after him might be a nice habit to pick up. _I must be the creepiest human being to ever walk the face of the earth…First, I avoid the guy with every fiber of my being. Then, I start talking to him 'cause I'm 80 percent certain that I know him. Then I learn I'm insane and he's somehow involved. And finally, I get a stupid crush on him. Look at me, the genius…!_

I was pulled from my unorganized mess of a mind when Sampson gathered up a small group of papers from his desk before gesturing for me to follow him. "Come," he said as he walked out of the room. "Let's take a walk. There are some things that we need to talk about." Not sure if I had much of a choice in the matter, I did as asked and followed the man out into the hallway. Dracomon strolled along behind me, leaving only a few inches of space between the two of us.

The silence was heavy between us, and it made me tense and anxious to get on with things. I was still thinking nervously about how Mrs. Sasaki had seemed almost ill when I'd left, and I wanted to get back home to see if she was all right. As I usually did when I felt an overwhelming uneasiness, I gave the gold band around my wrist a quick spin, feeling a sense of calm drop over me slowly, like a light sheet being tossed over someone's head.

As though he sensed my need to get to the point of this meeting, Sampson began to speak. His voice, however, sounded too…casual for me to feel that he was being complete in what he was talking to me about. "Where did you get that…bracelet?" I touched the piece of other-worldly jewelry at the mentioning of it, the coolness of the metal not exactly helping me to stay calm, but still keeping me from getting too freaked out over all this.

"…It's not a…_normal _thing, is it?" I inquired in the quietest voice that anyone had heard before. For a moment, I thought that Sampson hadn't replied because he hadn't heard me, but when I glanced over at him, I knew that he had. A hard expression had settled upon him like a mask made out of stone; he was thinking hard about what I'd said, but I could tell that he wasn't about to respond to me. Maybe because I was right, and he saw that he didn't have to.

So, knowing that my question wouldn't receive an answer, I rubbed my arm through my sleeve as I told the floor, "My dad gave it to me a really, really long time ago. I don't remember him actually putting it on me, but I remember him talking to me about it one time. He said that it was really important that I keep it on…but he never actually said why. And…I guess I never really asked him…" My fingers began to tremble as I reminisced about my father; I gripped the sleeve and my white and yellow shirt to try and hide it.

Things like this always happened to me, but they were beginning to happen more and more frequently. I'd get a seriously bad headache, feel so nauseous that ripping my guts out through my mouth would be nicer than face the pain, start shaking like I was going through my own personal earthquake…and there was nothing for me to do but wait and hope it would pass. Mrs. Sasaki had seen me go through one of these moment before, but I'd convinced her not to do anything about it. I didn't want her to worry about me. I didn't want to worry, either.

"Your father didn't explain its purpose to me," Sampson stated in that same deep voice, though the shuffling of papers now accompanied the bass tone. He handed two of them to me, one a picture of the band that took up the whole page and the other an entire sheet of information. "What your father gave you is a priceless Digital ornament called a Holy Ring." I took a deep breath and tried to stop my hands from trembling so I could read what he'd given me. It wasn't working; all of the letters were blending together.

My father had known about Digimon. He'd _known_.

The ferret-like Digimon up on Sampson's shoulder that wore the same band as I did, knowing that I wouldn't have a clue what a Holy Ring was, explained it to me in a calm, to-the-point voice, "A Holy Ring is a very special thing that certain Digimon wear to mark them as a Holy-species. These rings hold a great amount of power and can do many incredible things, all in accordance with the holiness of the Digimon that wears it. They are all inscribed with DigiCode, the message reading: 'Digital Monster.'

"But what I can't figure out is how you came to possess this one," The Digimon's tone exemplified his intense level of befuddlement, and I had to admit, I was pretty close to that point as well. I was still trying desperately to wrap my head around the fact that my father may've been leading a double-life—and I was also attempting to calm myself despite all of these thoughts causing a riot unlike any other within my very mind.

Then again, maybe he hadn't been living a double-life. Maybe I had no reason to be getting so worked up over all of these wonderings. Perhaps I simply didn't remember the part of his life that had revolved around Digimon. I mean, I didn't recall a lot of things from that long ago, so it made sense. But one would think that if one of their parents was involved with other-worldly creatures, you'd remember it pretty well.

"Kudomon brings up a very good point," Sampson nodded, agreeing and sharing in his partner's confusion. "Your father was able to go to the Digital World a number of times, though I'm not sure how his first few tries were successful. But putting those instances aside, I can't think of one reason that a Digimon would give up its Holy Ring, especially to a human…" The head of DATS trailed off then, pondering to himself about a number of things that I couldn't hope to guess at.

I made a small 'hm' noise, perhaps just to fill the silence as I tried to sort between the questions that were worth asking, should be asked, and might be voiced but probably wouldn't receive an answer. Finally, I decided on an explanation. "If my dad did get this—" I held up my arm and gestured to the Holy Ring. "—from a Digimon, then why is that so odd? I mean, you and all those other people have Digimon with you all day every day, so why is it so strange that a Digimon gave a human a bracelet?"

"It's because that's not just a bracelet, Sumi-chan," Dracomon, who'd been surprisingly quiet throughout the conversation so far, cut in. He looked up at me with those big scarlet eyes of his, eyes that I could remember far back into my childhood, even when many other memories were clouded and unsure. "It's very special. It means _you're_ special." _But I'm not all that special. If anything, I'm special because of how incredibly anti-special I am._

I stared down at the dragon Digimon with a confused gaze, but I didn't make a comment right off the bat. I wasn't sure that if I were to ask for him to explain that he could at all. Dracomon had always been one to try and build me up, but I didn't believe half the stuff that he told me I should believe about myself. I'd been given plenty of evidence as to why I shouldn't, so why change now?

He often told me that if I were to let people get close, I would be able to make a lot more close friends instead of simply people that I spent a few hours with every other day. The creature had tried to help me 'open up' by making me practice meeting and talking with new people by pretending that he was someone in my class. And it was sweet of him to put so much effort into trying to help me, now that I could look back on it and be able to completely appreciate it.

Except for the time that he followed me to school to see if I was practicing the things that he'd been working on with me. Could've gone without that.

As far as I was aware, I was doing a bit better (meaning, Dracomon hadn't followed me to school and stared at me 'encouragingly' through the window until I made an effort to talk to somebody). I knew a few more people at my school and was pretty decent friends with them, and for some reason they seemed fond of me. I was happy enough like this. I wasn't sad or angry or just…_there_ all the time now, and that was good enough for me.

But Dracomon didn't feel like it was enough. He always wanted for me to be so joyful and cheerful that I would have to be smiling all the time and every other few seconds I would laugh just because the fluttering of the butterflies of happiness tickled me too much to bear. I could still recall a time in my childhood that he'd asked me every day to smile for him so he could always remind me what my smile looked like in case I was to forget someday.

However, nobody in history had ever been that happy before, and no one would ever be that happy in the future. It just wasn't possible. Just having happiness_ itself_ was pretty darn close to impossible, too. When a good thing or moment came your way, it was nice for a time, but it usually left as quickly as it had come or was ruined when your mind reminded you of something that you ought to forget but couldn't. At least, that was how things went for me.

I realized after a second that Kudomon had begun talking again, and I'd missed some of it. Hurriedly zoning back in, I caught the last bit of his explanation to my inquiry, "—but the point is that Digimon were not friendly with humans by any means after that day. Some of them have forgiven, but some…" His large yellow eyes dropped to the floor, a shadow of gloom passing over them. "…Some refuse to do the same."

Able to piece together the gist of what had gone on without needing the rest of the information, I let the fact that I hadn't heard anything lie and said nothing. There really was nothing else to say anyway. Except…Dracomon had never been one to be able to let things go. Despite his kind nature, he had a tendency to hold grudges against those who did him or his friends wrong. I suppose we were the same in that way, but…

"Did you forgive?" Dracomon looked up at me curiously, a hint of confusion dusting his gaze before I repeated myself. "Did you, you know…did you forgive?" I hid the anxiousness that threatened to appear in my eyes; I didn't want him to know how much I feared that he held a secret grudge against even me, just because I was human. Some things…it didn't matter who did it. You just wanted someone to blame. You _needed_ someone, something, anything.

Innocent, bright eyes darkened and he looked away from me, his silence sending a stiff, tense chill down my spine. His gaze traced the floor for the longest time, as if the answer would be written somewhere along the white tiles or the blank walls. Sampson and Kudomon were also quiet, probably wanting to hear what he would say just like me.

I bit my lip as the tension finally became too much for the Commander and he voiced another question to replace mine, pushing it out of the air around us. "Masumi, your mother remarried about a year or so after your father's passing, correct?" I nodded absently and he continued. "Assuming my records are correct, she and your step-father, Kiyoshi Nemoto, who worked with your father, live in Akashi. What are you doing so far from home?"

Tearing my eyes from my distracted Digital friend, I returned my gaze to Sampson as I replied tentatively, "Well, you see…things at home were getting kind of rough, what with having to hide Dracomon and all that, so…Mom thought it would be a good idea that I take some time for myself and go away for a while. I couldn't get out of that place fast enough.

"A friend of my late grandmother, Mrs. Amori Sasaki, lived alone here in Yokohama, and my mother called her to ask if she would be willing to watch after me for a while. We didn't know how long how I would be staying there, but Mrs. Sasaki was excited to have the company and said that I could stay for as long as I wanted. That…was about a year or so ago now…" By the end of my little 'story', my eyes had found their way back to the floor. It was hard to maintain eye contact when I talked about things like this. About my past.

The man nodded once, twice, his eyes never leaving the path before him. His stride was similar to a soldier, a general, how his back was straight as a board, each step perfectly poised and graceful yet filled with a hidden power, his eyes looking on toward the future and never glancing down at the ground to see what would lead him there, trusting only in that which was promised to be ahead. But there was something dwelling in his mind that troubled him, and that in turn disturbed me.

Kudomon, however, still had a few things to clear up, and to be honest, I didn't mind since we were disrupting the eerie silence. "All of this is good to know, but it doesn't explain why Dracomon came to the human world, or why he chose to stay with you," The Holy Digimon moved his steady stare from me to the Digimon waddle-walking beside me. "Why did you come?"

Dracomon, pulled from his trance, removed his gaze from the floor and settled it blankly on the three of us. He thought for a moment before that familiar and beloved reptilian smile crossed his face and he said in a rather smart-alecky tone, "Because I could, of course," I did my best to hide a grin as I shook my head in absolute disbelief at the audacity that my best friend had. The chance that he could be sent back to his world was still on the list of options, and here he was being a twerp toward Commander Sampson's Digimon partner.

Only Dracomon. Only Dracomon…

With an irritated sound, Kudomon pretty much resigned from the conversation, seeing that he was going to get nowhere with Dracomon. I wasn't surprised that the dinosaur creature hadn't wanted to talk about his reasons for coming to this world though, since the topic was basically off-limits to me as well. I'd often been curious, especially as to why he didn't like talking about it, but I never pried. Neither one of us had brought it up for some time now, long enough for me to almost forget about it.

I did hope that one day he'd tell me, but I wasn't about to rush him when he'd never done such a thing to me. If that was the only thing I could do to repay him for helping me through rough moments, then I would do it to the best of my ability. I owed him that much, didn't I? And besides, it meant the world to me that he'd come so far just to end up choosing to be friends with me in and of itself. I was good with knowing that much.

"Be that as it may," Sampson injected his voice into my thoughts, drawing me from them as one would venom from the blood. His voice was a little lighter now, as if he'd come to some sort of conclusion, and I tuned in, listening intently to every word he uttered. "I think that, for now, it would be best that Dracomon remains with you—at least until we get all of these little details with the Holy Ring and everything else all ironed out. After that…we'll have to see.

"But, for the time being, I want you to make sure that you keep in contact with the DATS agency, whether it be making weekly visits here or meeting up with some of my agents. Also, you shouldn't be too surprised if you see one of them hanging around your house these next few weeks. It probably won't be for very long, depending on when you show the signs we're looking for—"

"'Signs'?" I repeated with a note of confusion, glancing over at Sampson with an odd look. I was beginning to feel like a rat in some sort of freakish experiment with the way he was going on about this 'test' of his. It was starting to creep me out a little bit, enough that goosebumps had pricked up along my arms. "What are you talking about?" Eyes glued to Sampson's every movement, I watched him carefully, making sure that I wouldn't miss a single thing that he did that might give me a hint toward something he was thinking but not saying.

The tall, dark man was silent for a moment, thinking through his next words with noticeable care. Everyone seemed surprised when it was neither Sampson nor Kudomon that spoke up, but Dracomon. "You mean me digivolving, don't you? Masumi and me…you want to know if we can digivolve like the others…?" A hushed sense of shock fell over the Commander and his Digimon, and I assumed quickly that it was because my Digimon's guess had been correct. Somehow.

"I sensed it," The antlered dragon explained when he realized how odd it would seem that he had been able to presume Sampson's thoughts. "When Agumon and I were racing, and when those other two Digimon were in the room with us, I could feel it—that they could be better than me. If they tried really, really hard." Dracomon's words caught me off-guard, astonishing me by how serious they were (aside from the last bit that he'd added on), how…odd he sounded talking like that.

I knew what digivolving was since Dracomon had mentioned it before a time or two, but I'd never been that curious about it. Until now. Assuming that Dracomon was right—judging by Sampson's reaction, he had to be—I decided to keep the topic going. "What does it matter to you if we can do that or not? It's not like I'm going to be joining DATS or anything," I said that last part with a bit of a laugh at the foolishness of having a person like me be part of some big, secret agency that handled the world's Digital affairs. The entire world would go to hell with me on board!

But the bit of a grin that had been on my face was practically shot off when I saw the look that the Commander was giving me. It was one of complete and absolute seriousness, like this was some life-or-death situation that we were talking about. Like I was the fool for not seeing…something. Probably something important, judging by the gleam in Sampson's eye that was almost hidden by his sunglasses.

"…I'm not, right? I mean, you've gotta be—I'm _not_, right?!" It was suddenly getting difficult to breathe, and Dracomon, sensing that I was beginning to get myself worked up to the point of feeling sick, reached up and touched my arm. But it didn't do anything for me. My stomach continued to flip and flop about within me anxiously; it was reacting like it would if I were skydiving or something crazy like that. I tried to swallow, but my throat was too busy forcing out more words. "What…why—"

"When your father first had us meet you, he told us that you were a very special child, different from anyone that had ever existed before," The Commander cut me off before I had the chance to completely freak the heck out on him. As he spoke, I tried to calm down, but nothing that he said offered me much peace. If anything, it made me feel like I was going to black out. Like in the next three to four seconds.

"He said that, because of that fact, there might come a time when a darkness might arise that would pose as a great threat to us, an enemy that had a good chance of overtaking us completely. He promised us that if that time were to come, as he feared it would, you would be the most important thing to our cause. You, something about you, would be vital to the ending of the war. He never told us what that 'special weapon' of yours was, despite how much effort we put into forcing it out of him.

"But the reason that I'm telling you this is that about a week ago I received an e-mail from an anonymous sender that said, 'The time has come'. And I'm afraid that—"

"Please, stop…stop…" I raised one trembling hand to rub my aching temple and held the other up to aid in my pleading for Sampson to end the 'story'. I couldn't remember a time when my head had ached so viciously before, burning with a vengeance so bright that it blinded me from the inside. I could only barely feel Dracomon at my side, hardly recognize that he was staring up at me with concern. The only thing I could feel was that throb in the center of my brain that racked by entire body with agony.

Sampson, seeing my strange shaking and the pain that had stamped itself onto my face, came to a halt and watched me with an odd look on his face. Like he was concerned, but not just concerned. There was something else there, like he was trying to think of something that he had seen some time ago, but couldn't put his finger on it. As if something had triggered his memory, but not enough for him to fully recall the details.

After a moment or two had passed and the ache in my mind had gone away enough for me to be able to function again, I took a shaky breath and said in a clear but quiet voice, "Sir, excuse me for my blatancy, but my father is dead. He couldn't have sent that e-mail." _'The time has come'…'a darkness might arise'…'you would be vital to the ending of the war'…Dad, what the hell were you talking about back then?! _

Of all of the things that I'd been told today, I think that this was probably the worst. Sure, I could handle the fact that the gate to the Digital World was closed so the eggs were gonna be stuck here for a while. I could handle the fact that my dad had been involved with Digimon and had even gone to their world and brought me back a 'Holy Ring' for whatever reason. But me fighting in some kind of war between the worlds or something? No way! That was complete crap! _Maybe Dad was messing with them or…maybe he wasn't sure what he was saying or…_

I wasn't sure what to tell myself anymore. I didn't know how to deny something I didn't remember, how to trust in something that I doubted had ever happened, how to…how to believe Sampson when he said all of these strange things about my father. It was stupid! All of this was complete and utter crap! It couldn't be true, there was nothing special about me! I didn't matter! Why did—

"I know," The man said with a heavy sigh, telling me thusly that he'd thought of the same thing that I had. "But that's what worries me. And that's why I want you to have this," Reaching into one of the deep pockets of his dark blue trench coat, he pulled out a small white and blue ear phone. He dropped it near me without waiting for me to accept the device. Out of instinct, my hands shot out to catch it, and thankfully, I did. "And make sure that you keep in touch until you make up your mind about joining us."

As Sampson started to walk away, heading towards the door to the main control room that we'd been in with the others before, I shook my head slowly as I stared down at the phone in my hand. I bit my lip hard, not knowing what to think or what to say or what to do, and Sampson wasn't giving me any time to think any of those things through. He was so…so…I wasn't sure, but it was pissing me off. "You're making a mista—"

"The Digimon has been taken care of as ordered, sir," I was cut off by a voice that was not the Commander's, and I was astonished to see Thomas standing on the other side of the hall. He was alone, the other two probably having gone home already since it was getting quite late now. "The egg has been placed in a confinement chamber with the rest and is receiving the special care it requires."

The blonde was cast a raised eyebrow from his commanding officer's Digimon partner. Kudomon, now that he wasn't losing precious brain cells by talking to my devious and rather secretive Digimon, decided to speak again. "Special care? What sort of special care?" I wasn't sure why, but the way that Kudomon asked that…Something wasn't right. I didn't know what, but…I couldn't shake that feeling.

"Well, Kudomon, unlike the other Digimon we've returned to egg form these last few battles, this one was incredibly weak and malnourished. It was as if it had been attacked by some kind of virus or parasite before we got to it," A shadow passed over Thomas's porcelain face as he informed the two of them. "It should be fine after a couple of days, but what bothers me is that there is no recorded virus that would have such an effect on a Digimon. It's strange…"

_Hm. Been hearing that word a lot lately… _"I see…" The white Digimon lowered his gaze, his mind beginning to spin rapidly as he pondered what Thomas had told him. I couldn't help but be curious as well, even though I really didn't know much about Digimon other than what I'd learned from Dracomon. He'd mentioned viruses and things like that infecting Digimon before, but from the way he described it, it was just like any other illness. Not…not like _this_.

Sampson made a 'hm' noise as he too began to wonder about what the cause could be. Perhaps it was just that particular Digimon having been affected negatively by something that it got into before being captured. Or maybe it had been ravaged by a very strong virus that no one had found in the Digital World before. There were plenty of things that it could be, though nothing was definite.

"I don't know what it could be. Keep an eye on it and record anything out of the ordinary. If we're not careful, it could end up being a big problem," Sampson warned, Kudomon and Thomas nodding in agreement (out of the corner of my eye, I even saw Dracomon bob his head ever so slightly). "But before you go looking into it, I want you to make sure that Masumi gets home safely." I stared at Sampson with a blank face. _…What?_

The man didn't seem to notice my state of surprise and continued to keep his attention on Thomas, who seemed to be just as shocked by the request as I had been. His eyes wandered to me for a moment; the intensity of their gaze burned me and I looked away quickly. He looked back at his employer and protested in that scholarly voice, "But sir, I think the egg is a bit more important than this girl! I understand that you knew her father, but—"

"It's quite late, so it would be rather unsafe for Masumi to go walking home by herself, even with Dracomon with her. The main job of our organization after all is to protect the public, is it not?" Sampson's tone held both an air of intuition and finality, one that hung in the air after it had been spoken. It felt as if there was something else, another meaning, hiding behind those words. But I could not see it. He wouldn't let me.

Blondie, now quite defeated, let out an exasperated but obedient sigh. "Yes, sir, right away," Golden bangs flipped in the most pristine and elegant way as his head snapped in my direction, making me flinch. Icy, perfect eyes bore into mine, scalding me with every hidden thought that I could sense but never read. "Let's go." Two words, and he was already walking, each stride fast but not rushed.

I hesitated for a split second, unsure whether or not I really wanted to be alone in a car with this Norstein guy. Yeah, it was a short ride back to my place, but still. Something told me that Thomas wasn't really the chit-chat kind, so it would be a bit more than awkward. And if he did speak, it certainly wasn't going to be anything that I would want to talk about.

But then again, Sampson did kinda have a point. It was pretty late, and if I were to walk back, I wasn't going to get home for quite a while, so Mrs. Sasaki would have more time to worry about me. And that was without counting in the extra time it would take if I got lost. I'd never been to this building before, as far as I could recall, so I wasn't entirely sure what route to take to get back. And Dracomon was usually pretty bad with directions, so…

Fully aware that this might end up being the most awkward moment of my life, I rushed after Thomas, Dracomon following hurriedly behind me.

* * *

The ride hadn't gone as poorly as I thought it would, but it had been pretty uncomfortable. It had remained reasonably silent between the two of us (three if you counted Dracomon, but he'd fallen asleep so I guess he really didn't count no matter what), and I knew it was because Thomas had been ignoring me for the most part, but I was used to that and didn't mind.

Also, he'd been doing some research on a small handheld computer, and the quiet tapping of his fingers was somehow soothing to me. I had grown a little curious as to what he'd been investigating, but then I remembered what he'd said before about the egg being much, much weaker than it should've been. That had to have been what he was working on figuring out.

I watched him for some time, a little astonished that he hadn't noticed me staring, but he was pretty far in the zone, so I guess it was understandable. It was actually pretty interesting to watch him work because his face was so much easier to read when he didn't realize that there was someone paying attention to him. Thinking back, though, I wasn't sure how I would've explained myself if he had known that I'd been staring.

Nevertheless, it was oddly captivating, the way that his face showed every emotion and thought that passed through him as he searched for a solution, strived for some kind of theory or reason. The intellectual blonde had to been working at that for some time now, and was still doing his research when his chauffeur pulled up in front of my house.

Every light was off, something that was almost never done in Mrs. Sasaki's home. She liked to leave at least one light on when she went to bed at night, and she especially would've done so since I wasn't home yet. There was a small, small chance that she had stayed up to wait for me, but I doubted it. Mrs. Sasaki had always been a very punctual person, and wouldn't have strayed from her schedule unless something really, really important had gone on.

I don't know how she viewed it, but I didn't see me getting picked up by the Digimon police as all that special. Out of the ordinary, sure, but nothing to fret about.

Maybe it was the fact that the lights were off or maybe it was something else, but I couldn't deny that feelings of uncertainty and anxiousness were beginning to well up inside me. Something just _wasn't_ right. It was the darkness of the house, the chill that I felt go up my spine even sitting here in the warm car, the prickle that was cast over my skin as Dracomon awoke and glanced out the window with me. He stayed quiet; he felt it, too.

"Is there a _problem_?" I snapped back around when Thomas spoke up, his voice hushed but ringing with bemusement as to why I hadn't made a single move to get out of the car yet. There was a half-serious and half-not-so-serious air to his question, as if he'd mainly said it to break me out of whatever trance I'd fallen into while gazing up at the house.

I wanted to tell him that something didn't seem right, ask him if he felt that tingle when he looked at the house. I needed one more person to feel it, someone who would know what he was doing if something really was going on. Despite the fact that he wasn't too fond of me, even though we'd only met the one time, Sampson's words might still ring true in his mind. He would help me if I were to ask.

But I couldn't. "No, there's…it's nothing," I assured him as I opened the car door and stepped out, Dracomon leaping out after me, although he didn't seem too sure about leaving the safety of Thomas's presence. Or the warmth of the car. Before closing the door, I leaned my head back in for a moment. "I know you didn't want to, but thank you for the ride." Before he had a chance to say anything in response, I slammed the car door closed, and a few moments later, the black limousine drove off.

I watched him go, the vehicle disappearing into the darkness as it sped away into the quiet of the night. There was eeriness to the atmosphere now that I was alone, aside from Dracomon, and I tried to ignore it, but failed. Biting my lip, I turned enough to look up at the house again, and the feeling grew stronger. It was like there was something at every window, staring out at me with contempt yet awe. I'd never felt anything like it before.

A soft wind blew my hair up off of my neck, and I shuddered, rubbing my arms to try and rid myself of the goosebumps on my skin. I wasn't sure if they were coming because of the cold or because of my growing fright, but I guess it didn't matter. The point was that I had to get rid of this feeling. I had to show myself just how foolish I was being, thinking that something was wrong.

I was about to take a step toward the house when Dracomon's voice stopped me. "Sumi-chan…" Looking down at him, I could see the look of complete and utter urgency now plastered on his scaly face. I couldn't remember the last time that he'd looked like that, and that in and of itself was terrifying to me. "I don't like this. I don't want you to go first."

Staring down at my Digimon, I gulped when he looked up at me with a no-nonsense expression. "A-all right…" Even though he hadn't needed my 'okay', I appreciated that he'd at least said something to me before jumping into something that could end up being a really bad idea. And judging by the weakness in my knees as we crept up to the door, it was starting to lean in that general direction.

Dracomon pushed the door open tentatively, careful to make sure that it wouldn't make a sound, and crept inside. I followed him after taking a final glance around at the bushes on either side of the threshold, thinking that I'd heard something. After nothing appeared, I went in and closed the door behind me, bathing the entire place in complete darkness.

Goosebumps sprung up on my skin again as my breathing became the only sound I could hear. Dracomon usually made some kind of noise when he walked, but now I couldn't hear him at all. It was like he wasn't even there. "Dracomon? Where are you?" I whispered as I wandered forward into the lightless room, guided only by my memory and the faintest moonlight that spilled like blood through the windows.

"Masumi, in here," He called back in a hushed tone, his voice coming from the kitchen. I stole through the other rooms as quiet as a thief before coming to the kitchen, where Dracomon was standing by the sink with something in his hand. The antlered Digimon was struggling to read something by the moonlight, but was having some problems.

Seeing that I'd arrived, the creature turned and held up the piece of paper. I took it from his extended hand, moving to stand in the glow of the moon as he'd been trying to do. Holding it up to the light slightly, a sense of dread passed through me when I read what it said. "…'Masumi, please be careful around the pantry. I think we have some rats and I put some bait and traps in there while you were gone.'" Fingers shaking, I lowered the note gradually.

"…We don't have rats, Sumi-chan…If we did, I'd have smelled them, but I don't…" Dracomon said slowly, looking up at me with a worried expression. I, however, couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't think. Dracomon was right; we didn't have rats. And even if we had, Mrs. Sasaki wouldn't have been able to put down traps or bait because we didn't have any. She didn't like killing things, so she'd never bought anything like that.

I turned around and reluctantly looked over at the pantry door. I wasn't sure what had left the note if Mrs. Sasaki hadn't, but I knew that she couldn't have. That meant…there was something else here with Dracomon and I. There was something _here_. I could sense it now, just as Dracomon had before when we were still outside. It was such a strong feeling, like there was something reaching right through my skin and gripping my heart so tightly that it was about to pop.

Dropping into a crouch beside Dracomon, I listened very carefully, searching for anything audible in the silence. My Digimon partner strained his ears to hear as well, cocking his head to the side to help him concentrate. I kept my eyes on the crack beneath the door, thinking that I saw some kind of light radiating dimly from within the small room, but unsure if I was seeing things or not. Not wanting to let it go, I continued to study it.

A few moments passed without a sound, but then Dracomon turned his head steadily to face the pantry door, his back erect and body completely still. "I. Hear. Something." My breaths came in short, uneven bursts, almost too quiet for the normal ear to hear, but to me they sounded like I was gasping for breath after having nearly drowned.

I struggled to listen harder, wanting to know what the sound was that Dracomon was talking about, but hearing absolutely nothing. But then it hit me. There was a small, small whirring sound, like any electronic appliance might utter, however, it wasn't quite right. It was different somehow, different in a way that I couldn't explain or describe. But there was a noise.

"I hear it, too…" Before I'd even finished speaking, Dracomon had begun creeping toward the door. And, even though it went against my better judgment and every instinct in my body, I joined him. I was shaking so badly as I stood there staring at the doorknob, trying with all my might to make my hand move from my side and open the door. I gulped; I had to do it, I just had to.

With a trembling sigh to calm myself, I reach out slowly and took hold of the doorknob. I paused, wondering for a moment if this was really such a great idea, but then threw all caution to the wind and yanked the door open like one would tug of a bandage. I wasn't sure what I was expecting to find, but whatever I was thinking would be there wasn't.

Instead, I saw a black hole that was big enough for Dracomon and I to fit through easily there on the floor of the pantry. But it wasn't just a hole. At least, that's not what Dracomon thought it was. "It's a Digi-Gate!" He exclaimed, no longer seeming to care that whatever else was in the house might hear him. I still did, however, and quickly shushed him, slapping my hand over his mouth before he had time to freak out any more.

While he attempted to calm himself down, my eyes wandered back to the floor of the pantry. There was a dark green glow, almost unnoticeable, coming from deep within the tunnel-like hole. It looked so incredibly familiar to me, though I couldn't figure out why in the world it would. Nevertheless, I couldn't look away from that intoxicating, hypnotizing shimmer, it was just so—

"Sumi-chan? Sumi-chan!" Dracomon had removed my hand from his face and was shaking my shoulder, trying to snap me from my trance. Coming to quickly, I shook my head and tried to focus on the Digimon standing beside me, his voice coming out rushed and panicky. "Sumi-chan, there must be Digimon here! We have to find Mrs. Sasaki! Fast!"

_'Some have forgiven, but others…others refuse…' _Kudomon's words rung loudly in my head like a church bell, and I then understood. If there were Digimon, then there was a very, very good chance that these were the kind who was still holding a malevolent grudge against the human race. And, assuming the worst because of this feeling of horror and despair, I was beginning to believe that that's what we would be up against.

Without waiting a second longer, the two of us rushed out of the kitchen and ran to and fro within the house, calling and searching for Mrs. Sasaki. While Dracomon was looking for her in one of the rooms near the back door, I started up the stairs. However, something caught my foot and I tripped, letting out a startled yelp as I fell.

Reacting speedily, I was able to catch myself before hitting the wood steps, and let out a small sigh of relief. I heard Dracomon as he ran over to see what had happened, and wasn't surprised when he tried to help by pulling me back up onto my feet. Offering him a grateful nod, I was about to start back up the stairs when that same foot that had gotten caught on something before wouldn't move more than a few inches for some odd reason.

Confused beyond belief, I bent down and felt around my foot, thinking that maybe something was there that had gotten stuck and was keeping me from moving. But when I touched my shoe, I felt something…sticky and thin, but strong. A shuddered gasp tore through my lips when I realized what it was, and I hurried to rip it from my foot before sprinting the rest of the way up the steps, Dracomon rushing to my side.

That sticky substance had been some kind of string, some kind of spider web. But no spider in _this_ world could make a web that could hold a human.

When we got to the top of the steps, we were greeted by the sight of more webs lining the walls, the white string-like substance turning the hallway leading to Mrs. Sasaki's room into a tunnel fit for the most deadly spider of them all. The webs on the floor here weren't as sticky as those at the bottom of the steps, so running was pretty easy.

But the moment that we reached the door to Mrs. Sasaki's room, the door itself pushed all the way back and held in place by a cluster of web, neither I nor Dracomon were prepared at all for the sight that greeted us. The entire room, corner to corner, wall to wall, was completely coated with spider silk, with little black holes leading to spider dens cut into some of the gigantic clumps. It was as if a scene from a horror movie had been cut from the tape and brought to life right here in my home.

And there, standing on the other side of the room facing the window, silhouetted by the moonlight, was Mrs. Sasaki. Ms. Inekura was beside her, one of the tall woman's arms draped over her thin shoulders.

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**Sorry about the cliff-hanger, guys, I thought it was the best way for me to go about ending this chapter, seeing how the next one is hopefully going to be the most awesome one so far! :D**

***clears throat* Sorry, kinda excited lol.**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I will do my best to get the next chapter up as soon as possible so you guys don't have to wait too long to learn what happens next.**

**Also, if you had any questions or if something didn't make sense, just let me know in your review and I'll explain as much as I can without giving anything away, otherwise I'll let you know how long you have to wait until it's all clear. On the other hand, it could just be a mistake on my part, and if so, then sorry 'bout that heheh...**

**Nevertheless, thanks for reading and please feel free to let me know what you thought :)**


	4. Chapter 4: Collide

**It's kinda late over here right now so I have to make this real quick lol XD I'm really sorry about how long you guys had to wait for this chapter, but I kept getting stuck in certain parts due to both lack of inspiration and just getting stuck because I forgot where I was going with things and didn't always plan it out perfectly XD So sorry about that.**

**But, I still got it done (after I was hoping to, though D:) and I really hope that you guys like it, 'cause the plot is beginning to thicken! :D**

**Please read and review; I'd love to get some more feedback on this story, and I just really love getting to read what you guys think about it :) So please enjoy the chapter!**

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Chapter 4: Collide

"Mrs. Sasaki!" My voice came out stronger than what I expected it to, louder than what I'd hoped. Dracomon gave me a look that told me to be quieter, but I couldn't help it, not when the very air around me whispered 'Danger! Danger!' in a trembling tone. "…Mrs. Sasaki?" When she still didn't answer me, I started to move towards her into the webbed room, but my Digimon partner quickly grabbed my leg to stop me.

Looking down at him with a confused glance, Dracomon shook his head feverishly. "The webs aren't safe, Sumi-chan! If you touch it…they'll come out…" Though I had next to no idea what 'they' was supposed to mean, but knowing by the concerned haze in his eyes that it was something very bad, I stayed in my place. Albeit, quite reluctantly. It felt wrong to stand here doing nothing when she was _so_ close. A quick dash in and out and she'd be safe; that was all it would take.

Not knowing what else to do, I was about to call for the old woman again, but this time I was interrupted by Ms. Inekura, who'd been standing beside her with an arm draped over her shoulders, grinning sickly at me. "Oh, dear…It seems like she can't hear you, can she?" With a demented giggle, the tall woman walked behind my current guardian and placed both hands on her frail shoulders. "She can't do much of anything right now. She's nothing more than my little puppet…" She ran her fingers under the woman's chin. "…a little porcelain doll—"

Anger shot through my veins like liquid fire, my heart raging at the audacity of this soulless woman. Mrs. Sasaki didn't deserve to be treated in such a way, to have her face contorted in such agony. "Don't touch her, you sick dog!" I thought that I heard Dracomon trying to warn me, felt him touch my leg to stop me, but I paid no mind to him. With an enraged snarl and a growl, I ran into the room, ignoring the webs, eyes set on Ms. Inekura, heart set on beating her into the floor for daring to hurt my friend.

But it was as if I was a kitten and she a wolf, the way that the silver-haired lady simply grinned at my fury. Waging her index finger of her right hand, she raised her left arm, Mrs. Sasaki's arm rising as Ms. Inekura's did. "Nuh, uh, uh, Dragon Soul—" _…What…the hell…?_ "—if you want her safe…" Throwing her arm back, Mrs. Sasaki's arm did the very same and a loud snap echoed into the room. I froze in horror as her arm dropped and hung limply at her side, her body trembling as pain spread through her. "Then stay right where you are."

Standing with a hand outstretched a little ways towards Mrs. Sasaki, my breath coming in shuddering gasps, I stared at the damage that that demon-woman had done with just a swing of her arm. I wasn't sure if the snap had been a bone breaking or a joint being popped out of its socket, but I wasn't sure I cared either way. Mrs. Sasaki had been hurt. I wasn't sure if my mind could process much more beyond that.

The woman who'd cared enough about me to let me stay here had been hurt.

_You…you rotten, sick, twisted filth! Using her as a shield! Coward!_ My hands curled into tight fists as every muscle in my body tensed and was filled with strength I'd never felt while practicing judo. It started deep within me; I could feel it burning like a volcano somewhere inside me, deeper than my heart, deeper than my soul. It fed off of my anger for what that creature had done to my friend, the hatred that was slowly bubbling up within me and driving me over the edge, past the point of no return.

I didn't know who this lady was. I didn't know how she'd been able to harm Mrs. Sasaki in the way that she had. I had no idea what a 'Dragon Soul' was or why it seemed like she was calling me that, and I didn't understand why I was surrounded by spider webs or why this woman wasn't freaking out about Dracomon at all. But I did know one thing. And I made sure she knew it, too.

"If you don't let her go right now, you're going to be in for a world of hurt…" I growled, voice low and threatening. Dracomon mimicked my snarl, his pupils shrinking to the size of pin-pricks as his scales made a sort of rustling sound beneath his quivering muscles. He seemed to feel the same things that I did at some times, like we were connecting by a bond much stronger than just friendship. But, I had to admit, I was glad to have such a convincingly vicious Digimon beside me right now. Really made my point clear.

However, the vile woman simply laughed at my words as if I'd told some kind of joke. Dracomon crept up to me while she was still chuckling, and our eyes locked when I glanced down at the scaly being. His scarlet eyes were bold with a fiery fury, the very same rage that pooled in every part of me like molten metal. I could almost read his thoughts, and I was sure that he could sense mine as well. We exchanged a slight nod as the woman began to speak again.

"I don't think you quite understand who you're dealing with, Dragon Soul. In fact…" She gestured for something to come out of the web-tunnels as she grinned sadistically at Dracomon and me; I heard rustling, but nothing moved out into the open yet. "Judging by your actions thus far, I doubt that you even know what I'm talking about…" The woman's face contorted into a sadistic grin. "That's simply wonderful. It makes this whole thing that much easier!" Her black lips parted to let another twisted giggle escape from her throat. My stomach did an uneasy flop at the sound.

Now, I'd been in a lot of bad situations before—this was obviously one of them, but there were many more. One such moment had happened about four months ago when I'd almost been caught by a couple guys walking from school to judo practice. There had been three, all of them a couple of years older than me, and it had been easy to see that they had some good muscles on their bones.

Most other girls probably would've screamed, or tried to run away, or maybe use pepper spray if they had it, but…not me. When I got into situations like that, there were only two things that I did. Number one, slip off whatever shoes I was wearing at the time (the look on my opponent's face was always awesome whenever I did that). And two, kick some loser butt like there's no tomorrow.

And, resting one hand on Dracomon's hard head to steady myself, I began to do the first of those two things. Since I was always barefoot when I practiced judo, I'd become accustomed to fighting without socks or shoes on. So, whenever I was in for a fight that a lot was resting on or that I really wanted to win…I had to take a second to take off my shoes. Because of that little quirk, I usually got a pretty good advantage over my opponent since they had to try to piece together why it made any sense for me to do such a thing.

Ms. Inekura didn't really seem to notice though, and I guess that it really didn't matter. She clearly had the upper hand here, using Mrs. Sasaki as a human shield and the room having been turned into something that was probably what she was used to fighting in. I wasn't sure if I wanted to charge her or not; she didn't seem like the kind of person to leave any kind of opening for me to come in and get a good strike in—one that I could deliver without having to worry about Mrs. Sasaki getting in the way and getting hurt, anyways.

So, I chose to bide my time. "I found the portal to the…um…" I glanced down at Dracomon for a reminder. He quickly mouthed the answer to forgetful ole' me. "…to the Digital World. And, just figuring from that, your get-up and—" I paused and felt the color drain from my face when the creatures that had rustled in the webs came forth into the moonlight. Spiders. Incredibly big, definitely deadly, furry, disgusting, tear-your-freaking-leg-off-with-a-blink-of-an-eye spiders.

Don't get me wrong, most of the time spiders were pretty cool little guys. They ate mosquitoes, and that made them all right in my book. Some could even be called cute if you really looked at them for a while. But _not _these suckers. These were the kind of spiders that would carry off a bear, devour it in one gulp, then come back for you and your entire family. And this family consisted of twelve people. And they were giants. Who just got done eating half a continent. Probably Asia.

"…And all your little pets…" I continued as the spiders that were even bigger than Agumon crawled over to surround Ms. Inekura, gesturing to them with a tentative wave of my hand. I couldn't help but shudder at the disturbing thud-thud-thud-thud sound that all those legs made as they moved across the floor. It was like being alone in a classroom and hearing something tapping aggressively on the chalkboard. "…that you're not from any place in the human world, are you?"

The pale-skinned demon woman smiled almost sweetly at me, one hand resting yet again on my guardian's shoulder. I felt that rage begin to eat at my stomach again, but I attempted to ignore it this time. Didn't go well. "I've always enjoyed toying with my prey, and you are quite the prize, so I suppose I could explain before I kill your friend and your little traitor Digimon," Looking away from me for a moment, she took Mrs. Sasaki's injured arm in one hand and, before I could do a single thing to stop her, snapped the bone in her forearm.

"…But I'll have no funny business, or this will happen to her spine, too," My lungs trembled in my chest, heart throbbing with pain as I nodded quickly. _This is bad, this is bad, this is very, very bad!_ I needed an opening! Even the slightest movement in any direction might be all that I needed to be able to sneak in a quick kick to do the job. I had to get Mrs. Sasaki out of there somehow so I could kick that sow's butt for thinking she could come in here and use my friend as a kind of voodoo doll!

I fisted my hands and tried to take a breath. I had to stay calm, bide my time, and watch. She would show a weakness; everyone had weaknesses. "All right, then. How about we start with your _real _name?" Staring her down hard, I paid special attention to every breath, every little move that she made, and everything that all her little spider friends made. "And what are all of those things?" I pointed to a spider that had been having a staring contest with Dracomon for the past few minutes.

Dracomon was winning. I took that as a good sign.

"I am Arukenimon, and these are Dokugumon, my precious children," One of the smaller spider Digimon came over to the human-like creature's leg and rubbed adoringly up against her lower leg. I couldn't stop myself from staring; I'd seen some disturbing things, but…that really took the cake. "We've come for that—" She pointed at the Holy Ring, Dracomon growling taking a step in front of me as she did. "—and we don't be leaving without it.

"If you know what's good for you and your little friends, you'll hand it over without any fuss," I shook my head in disbelief and couldn't hold back a grin at how moronic this Digimon was being, thinking that I was going to make this nice and easy for her. She should've figured from the little squabble that I'd had with the DATS agents over the egg that this was going to be nothing if not a painful, hair-ripping-out experience—assuming that she'd been watching us all that time.

Chuckling darkly as I began to settle myself into a fighting stance, I taunted her with my gaze as I mocked the spider-surrounded Digimon, "You really don't get it, do you?" My grin disappeared as my rage rekindled within me, fueling my aggression to the point where it was even beginning to affect Dracomon. I heard him begin to growl beside me, the click of his claws as he readied himself to fight. "You think that you can come hurt my friend and threaten me, then demand I give you something precious to me, and actually get away with it?

"I don't think so, you rotten fake!" Anger and a need for revenge getting the best of me, I took a chance and, with Dracomon right at my side, charged Arukenimon and her miniature army. A wave of her pale hand sicked several of the Digimon on us, but it didn't worry me. As long as Dracomon was by my side, there wasn't a single thing that could stop the two of us. These Dokugumon could be the size of professional basketball players and I still wouldn't be afraid. Dracomon and I would always be stronger.

While the antler-like horns began to glow on top of the petite dragon's head and he prepared to shoot one of the Dokugumon with his G-Shurunen attack, another of the gigantic spiders made a move for me. A surge of adrenaline pumping hard through my veins, I leapt up and twisted my body around to gain a bit of momentum before coming full-circle and slamming my foot into the creature's squishy head with as much force as I could muster. With a surprised and pained squeal, the other-worldly arachnid was down.

Dracomon roared as he tackled another of the Dokugumon into the 'edifice' of web, tangling one another in it as they wrestled. I would've gone to give him a hand, but the second that I took a step towards him several of Arukenimon's spawn came at me from the burrows in the web, and two more from the four that acted as guards for the human-like Digimon. It was like every single Dokugumon that had ever existed had access to the room; they never stopped coming!

I heard the rapid thudding of their feet as they hurried to encircle me, just as any pack animal would its prey, their brightly colored fangs glistening in the dim light as they snarled at me. I, however, remained silent, retaking my fighting position, ready for whoever wished to strike first. My breath came fast and heavy, my heartbeat pounding hard in my chest. I wasn't used to fighting such creatures as this; there was no way to forget how insane this was!

Looking around at them, I saw that they could easily catch my arm or leg in their jaws and break it without a single problem. Their bodies, though fleshy and kinda pudgy, were obviously strong, holding within themselves a power that I could sense but not see. I'd already experienced how strong their webs were, like thick wire. If I got caught by even a single strand, I would be done for without a doubt.

These things…they were more than twice my size and _more_ than twice as strong as I was—so what the hell did I think I was doing fighting them like this?! I mean, Dracomon was a Digimon like them so it was somewhat normal for him to do this kind of thing, but a human fighting these creatures?! Had I lost my freaking mind in the last couple of minutes or something? Looking back on things now, I should've used that phone I'd been given to call somebody from DATS instead of—

_No. Way. _

I fisted my hands for a second before letting them go slack, nice and loose, ready to go. _Just breath_…_In…and out…It's not about power, but forcing theirs to work against them…Just take it easy…_ I tried to calm myself, focusing on the same words that my _sensei_ usually told me. I knew I could handle these Digimon; they were just spiders on some pretty serious steroids, after all. Nothing all that scary, or powerful. I had no need to be panicky. I could totally do this, and on my own, too.

I didn't need those DATS people to come _help_ me. I didn't need _any_ protecting from _anybody_.

A scream like that of a girl being stabbed screeched out from the throat of one of the Dokugumon as it jumped towards me, all of the others following suit with a flourish. I heard Dracomon shout my name, but I simply let out a small sigh through my nose and let my body do as it thought best. Every muscle in me was burning and flaring with energy, my bones more than ready to feel that solid impact of flesh against flesh, the indescribable bond that was made in a brawl.

Turning with a determined gaze to the nearest attacker, I locked one arm tightly around the closest leg, my action surprising the dark creature. I grabbed a tight handful of the furry, black flesh that covered its abdomen, and used its momentum and my own strength to fling the Digimon right over my shoulder and into another on-coming Dokugumon before the first had even one second to figure out what the hell was going on.

The fine hairs that had fallen from the spider's body as I'd thrown it bothered my eyes and nose a great deal, beginning to burn slightly when I tried to blink and rub them away. I'd felt worse, but it was still a bother; I didn't think that it would distract me from fighting at my best, though. I did my best to ignore the discomfort since the other Dokugumon were still on the offensive, and Dracomon was still tangled in the webs with his opponent. My fight was still on: Two down, four left.

Dropping down onto the floor, another two of the overgrown arachnids collided with one another above my head, the force of the larger of the two enough that it drove them both into the wall. However, they bounced off of it with a loud thud as if they were made of some kind of thick plastic, and were right back in the battle as if nothing had happened. One shot some kind of web at me, but I dove into a somersault quick enough for it to miss me.

However, as I rose back up onto my feet, some of the web that coated the floor rose up with me, sticking to my back and arms and legs. I raised my arms up to the side and was surprised I could still move at all, though I looked like I had wings made out of lace. Of course, this lace was pretty life-threatening 'cause I was sure to get killed if I accidentally wrapped myself up in this crap.

I almost heard the click as an idea popped into my head.

Turning to look for Dracomon as two of the Dokugumon started toward me with a newly lit anger burning in their faces, I saw him just getting up from having tangled his opponent in a gigantic mess of web. The spider seemed incredibly pissed at how things had ended up, but Dracomon appeared to be quite proud at his success. I'm sure that I would be hearing the full story later on.

"Dracomon!" His head snapping in my direction at my call, the dragon's red eyes were focused intently on me, waiting for whatever command I had. Nodding my head in the direction of the on-coming Digimon, Dracomon cast me an understanding bob of his head before hurrying into the proper position that I would need him to be in if this simple plan was actually going to end up working at all.

The closest Dokugumon appeared a bit puzzled as to why I wasn't trying to come at him with a kick or something, but he didn't put too much thought into it. With what one could call a 'battle cry', he jumped at me, going solo now since his friend was currently being kept at bay by Dracomon. A flash of panic surged through me for a second, knowing that this plan might not work at all and that I might end up dead or close to it if this didn't go how I wanted it. But I pushed it away and kept as cool as possible.

I spun to the side to escape being mauled by the Dokugumon, swinging my arm out to the side as I did so that the web stretched out a bit. Acting as a kind of net, the web fell down over the confused spider Digimon, trapping it as it struggled to break free of the very thing that it had created. However, the more that it fought, the more tangled up it got, and the more stuck it became.

Stomping a foot to call Dracomon off, the dragon creature backed away from the Dokugumon. It charged me, ignoring any warning that his comrade may or may not have given him, and his carelessness was repaid with a tiny prison made out of silk. He and his friend struggled uselessly to escape, but after a moment or two of watching them, I knew that they wouldn't be getting out without outside help anytime soon.

And the final two spider Digimon were too busy getting ready for a final stand-down to be able to help them out. As they settled their plans with one another and began their quick advance, I made several speedy hand motions to Dracomon; he nodded and raced off to distract one of the Dokugumon. He spun his body at a rate that made him difficult to see with the naked eye, slamming his tail into the arachnid's face. Dracomon continued to keep the other Digimon at bay, giving me a chance to focus on the second.

I met my eight-legged opponent in the middle of the room, feeling its hot breath coast over my skin for a brief moment. I resisted the shudder that wanted to creep down my spine at the feeling; it was like a hundred itty bitty little spiders were crawling over my skin. Ignoring the thought and focusing on the fight, I did my best to calm myself. My next idea would have to be a fast one, or it would end quite badly for me since it had to be done at such a close range (of course, all judo was close-range, but…we usually didn't practice against giant spiders).

Feeling the Dokugumon wrap one of its legs around mine, aiming to knock me down and render me helpless, I set my feet sturdily into the web floor, ready. Spinning slightly to the side, I threw my hip into the creature, lifting slightly, but the momentum enough to lift the heavy creature. One hand hurrying to grasp onto the furry black flesh, I used both our momentums to throw him, feeling the strain in my muscles but ignoring it. My opponent, now defeated, landed on top of Dracomon's appropriately placed Dokugumon, both disheveled and wondering what happened.

Dracomon cast me a pleased grin, and I didn't have to wonder why. I returned it as I panted quietly from the effort of throwing such a weighty being, but only briefly. My gaze, heated thoroughly with anger, turned upon Arukenimon, standing behind two Dokugumon and Mrs. Sasaki. The red-dressed Digimon-woman appeared, not worried, but more…surprised than anything. And even that wasn't quite what it.

Nevertheless, her lack of concern both irritated me and made me nervous. But, of course, I still had enough foolish confidence left in me to run my mouth. "I hope you were watching that, lady, 'cause I plan to do ten times _worse_ to you!" With a roar from me that was almost completely drowned out by Dracomon's own battle cry, the two of us ran at Arukenimon, sure that we would be able to get her as easily as those other Digimon.

But I'd never been more wrong.

With a swift movement of her fingers, Arukenimon grinned as Mrs. Sasaki's entire body contorted, her bones snapping as her arms were twisted behind her back. I froze in place as she dropped to her knees with a shriek of pain. A wave of horror passed over me as she was bent backwards until her head was nearly touching her feet. Her voice and body trembled as more and more snapping and popping sounds came from within her.

Arukenimon smiled sickly at me along with all her Dokugumon as a broken bone pierced through my guardian's flesh, making her cry out in agony. I heard a vertebrae pop next, then another soon after, and I knew that this couldn't go on for even a moment longer. Mrs. Sasaki would die if I didn't do something _now_. "Stop! Just sto—" I was cut off when another Dokugumon that had never come out of the tunnels shot me with webs, trapping my arms against my sides.

The force at which it had hit me knocked me off my feet and onto the ground. The spider tried to run over and attack me while I was incapacitated, but Dracomon slapped him away with his tail. "Baby Breath!" He took in a deep breath before blowing out a red-hot sigh of fire and steam at the black arachnid, sending it scurrying and screaming to the safety of Arukenimon's side.

Thinking that he wouldn't be seeing any more of that Digimon, Dracomon scurried to my side and was just beginning to cut me free with his claws when he was knocked to the ground. "Dracomon!" I rolled over to see what had happened and saw that the Dokugumon that he'd burned had gotten back at him by trapping him the same way he had me. "You okay there?"

He didn't answer right away, but I could tell that he wasn't hurt. Flopping over onto his stomach, the scaly being inch-wormed his way over to me, stopping only when his nose was pressed up against the web wrapped around my torso. He nudged me until I rolled over again, my back now to him. I felt the slightly vibration-like sensation as the reptile began to gnaw as best he was able on my spider-crafted ropes.

After figuring this would take a while, I decided that the best thing I could do at the moment was to buy him some more time by distracting Arukenimon, keeping her from noticing what was going on behind me. However, the spider woman, finally letting Mrs. Sasaki fall limply to the ground now that I was stuck, spoke before I could. "You don't seem to know what you are at all, and yet your power is obvious. How strange—"

"What are you even talking about?!" I knew that this conversation was only supposed to be a cover for Dracomon until he got me free, but I couldn't help myself. Everyone in this city seemed to know more about me than I did, and that was really starting to freak me out. If I could get some information out of this evil creature, then I was going to try my hand and see what I could get. "You keep calling me a…'dragon soul' or something…what the hell is that?" I thought I felt Dracomon pause for a moment in his work, as if he wanted to speak up, but then chose not to.

Arukenimon, on the other hand, seemed more than willing to talk. "Well, little Dragon Soul," She said the 'name' with a taunting voice, and I found out why quickly. "If you don't know by now, then you might never figure it out: You're not like all the other humans. Not at all. Your mother and step-father tried to show you—all your friends in elementary school…I bet their abandonment of you told you pretty clearly just what they thought of your differences.

"Such a sad, lonely creature you must be…" The silver-haired Digital woman chuckled at the shocked look on my face. How did she know about my past? I never talked to anybody about it, and Dracomon hadn't brought it up in ages, so…how…? "Losing your beloved father, the only person in the world who ever truly loved you—even you know that. Your mother fell away from you after he was gone, ran off into another man's arms the first chance she got. And there you were, left all alone—"

"Shut up!" I shouted with a snarl, feeling pain mixed with rage beginning to build within me. It was a thick feeling, not like being sluggish, but like my entire body had been filled with sand, like I was numb but could still feel everything. I heard a sort of snapping sound come from behind me, and immediately the webs around me went loose. Struggling out of it hurriedly, I jumped to my feet, not thinking to untie Dracomon yet.

"You don't know a thing about me, Arukenimon! I don't care if you think you know every single little detail, you've only been here for a few days, for crying out loud! You can't possibly have a clue about my life in such a short amount of time—you're just rephrasing something that you heard from Mrs. Sasaki, making up stupid 'facts' and stupid, sad stories to piss me off!" My breath shuddered for a moment; Dracomon said my name with a heavy dose of concern in his voice.

But I paid no mind to him. Fists clenched so tightly that they were shaking, I closed my eyes tightly and spat with a growl, "I don't care…about my family! So what if my dad's gone?! So what if my mother doesn't care about anything that has to do with me?! So what?! What does it matter to me? It's not like I need a single person on this Earth, so why do you think the past matters to me a bit?!

"Everybody in the world is the same: They act one way for a little while, but then they change and completely tear you apart. It's how life goes, and that's fine with me! I don't need to rely on anybody, so I don't have to worry about that kind of crap. And don't you dare go thinking that it hurt me before with my mom—I don't give a crap about what she does with her life as long as I don't ever have to see her again! And I could care less about Nemoto!

"Screw them, and screw you!" With a deafening shout, I rushed the Digimon, jumping up and over Mrs. Sasaki's crumpled but still living form. Rotating my body around at a quick rate, I swung my leg around as hard as possible, aiming the kick right for Arukenimon's face. But then she…she just wasn't _there_ anymore. Stunned and caught off-guard by how fast she was, I dropped to the floor and looked around hurriedly, seeing Arukenimon on the other side of the room, standing in front of the web-tunnels.

She didn't seem worried at all about my being on the offensive now; in fact, she seemed downright pleased to have me playing this little game of cat and mouse with her. I snarled in response to her confident smirk. "I think you're lying. You do care. That's why you fight so hard to make me think otherwise—" To shut her up, I ran at her again, this time attempting to silence her with a punch. My stance had never been very good when it came to that sort of offense, though, and it was incredibly easy for her to dodge it, grabbing my wrist as she moved to the side.

"You don't remember a lot of things, do you?" A small, almost audible gasp squeezed past the security system in my throat, and I felt a small worm of fear and confusion begin to sneak into my mind. _How_ did she know so much about me? How did _everyone_ seem to know so much about me when I barely even knew who they were?! "You don't remember your father, or that Sampson man, or that Marcus boy you like so much—"

"I don't like him like that!" I snapped fiercely, doing everything in my power to get her cold hand off of me, but in vain. I didn't want to hear her voice anymore, I didn't want her presence here or her pets or their webs. I wanted her and everything that had to do with her to be gone. "Damon and I are always just going to be friends—_if_ that much! And besides, what are my feelings and memories to you? Why do you think that it matters that I can't remember some little things? Why do _you_ care?"

The pale female didn't respond right away, but instead lifted a hand and flicked my Holy Ring with the tips of her fingers, making it spin. "Your emotions and memories will affect how strong this is…" She spun it again, appearing to enjoy the way the gold shimmered in the moonlight. "You'll find out one day just what you can do. And, while I hope for the opposite, the rest of the world will have to pray that you'll know what you're doing on that day—" _That's it. I want her gone!_

Finally struggling free of her grasp, I stumbled back a few feet. Dracomon was trying to get me to come over and help him out of the webs so that he could help me, but I shook my head at him. My eyes locked on Arukenimon, I gave her my offer, knowing she wouldn't go without one, "You and I are gonna fight. If I win, you take all your Dokugumon and get out of here. If you win—"

"You leave your little Digimon where he is and come back with me to the Digital World," Arukenimon finished for me, flashing me a malevolent, black-lipped smile. She turned to face me, holding her hands out to the side, waiting for my reply. "Well? Do we have a deal or not, little Dragon Soul?" Her voice was encouraging, taunting, wanting for me to give in to her demands without thinking first.

Which is exactly what Dracomon was afraid that I was going to do. "Sumi-chan, don't! You don't know anything about her—she'll hurt you!" I glanced back at him; his eyes were pleading. Inching toward me like a caterpillar, he continued to try to make me see reason. "I can help you—we could digivolve and then she'd never be able to stop us—"

"You know you can't do that," Arukenimon's voice was almost…sorry, or…disappointed. She stepped forward and snatched my wrist before I could move away. Her pale skin was cold and made me shudder; her fingertips were on the Holy Ring, making it tremble. I realized after a second that it wasn't her. I was the one who was trembling. "As long as you wear that Ring…you'll never be able to do it. You're not strong enough with it…

"So…" She tightened her grip and dragged me a little closer to her. Dracomon shouted for me and tried to get closer, but a Dokugumon slammed a pointed foot down on his back to keep him still. I turned my face away and my stomach flopped around in my gut. Before, I recalled her perfume smelling like spring flowers, but now she stank like death. "Why don't you take off that silly piece of gold and we'll play then, yes?" Her white teeth seemed to glow menacingly behind the lips of a rotting corpse.

Her offer was…tempting, at best. Her words had caught my attention before, all that talk of me being stronger than any other human, being stronger than what I gave myself credit for. I had no idea what she was talking about, but who could refuse a test-run when _that_ was what you got to try out? I could imagine how good it would feel, having the ability to crush her skull with a mere glance or a wave of my hand.

She deserved nothing more than that, after all, didn't she? I would be avenging Mrs. Sasaki's pain, getting revenge for all the harm and trouble that she'd brought Dracomon and I. Arukenimon deserved to hurt, and I wanted to be the one to make her hurt more than anything else in the world right now. I wanted to be the one to make her scream this time, instead of her doing so to my friend. I wanted to—

"Masumi!" Dracomon's call snapped me from my thoughts and I twisted my head around to stare at him. He was right beside me now, his head leaning against my lower leg. There was a look in his eyes that I didn't recognize, something beyond sadness, something…something deeper than that. _Why does he look so…_guilty_? _"You can't listen to her! She's a liar, and nothing more! If you take off that Ring, she'll kill Mrs. Sasaki and everyone else in the city!

"I know you're really mad, but you can't let it control your decisions, Sumi-chan. I know it's hard, but you have to think about what's best, not what you want," He moved a little closer and gestured to the webs that still encased him; I continued to listen as I bent down, shoved an indignant Arukenimon away, and helped him get un-stuck. "I'm mad, too, but it's more important to protect you and Mrs. Sasaki than it is to get back at Arukenimon. You know?"

His words were like him, and then again they weren't. I couldn't get over how he'd looked when he'd said them, how it was like he was saying it for himself as well, and I didn't understand that. But now Dracomon was standing beside me, ready to fight whether or not he could digivolve, and those confusing thoughts drifted away. I knew this creature, this person, and he would never lie to me, nor would he let me down.

So it was only right that I hold up my end of this friendship as well. "Sorry, but you heard the dragon," I said to Arukenimon in a rather spiteful tone, having cut her off just as she was about to insult my Digimon for the sentiment in his tone. A mocking grin slipped onto my face and I crossed my arms over my chest defiantly. "And you know, if you would've done your homework on me a bit better, you would've found that I don't take orders from thugs like you who need help from defenseless old ladies."

I don't think that I'd ever seen someone so pissed off from an insult that came out of my mouth. Or anyone's mouth, really. I thought I could feel the tension rise in the room, feel the heat of her anger as she seethed with bared teeth. Dracomon tried to push me behind him, but I was too transfixed by the dark glow that had begun to envelop the pale woman to be able to move. I suddenly was not so confident about this fight, and was not feeling so safe being only two meters away from the seething queen of arachnids.

"You…rotten, foolish, mindless spawn of Satan and science!" I flinched and took several steps back at the sheer volume of hate and malice that had bled into her voice. I rested an apologetic hand on Dracomon's head as we watched the scene unfold before us; I'd gone too far. "All your power, all your abilities…and you _waste_ it all on a pathetic human existence! You waste it all trying to fit in with those other humans! Trying to be like them, trying to ignore the fact. That. You're. Not!

"Your Digimon knows it—he may not know it as well as I, but he can feel it just as everyone else can the moment that you walk into a room. You were never like the other children, and if it wasn't for your father you never would've been able to make any friends at all! You're not a regular teenager like all those kids in your class—those stupid DATS people are more normal than you! And you know that's saying something!

"I saw the dreams that exist in your mind—they're vivid and beautiful things, or at least they were when you were young. Nowadays, you don't have pretty dreams anymore, do you? They're all nightmares and good things gone awry in the most awful way. You re-live the moment that your father died over and over again, seeing the blood spray and hearing his dying scream as it burned its way into your head and forever into your memories—" Her words, fueled by obvious insanity, were brought to a sudden stop when Dracomon shot the woman in the face with his G-Shurunen attack.

She screamed in both pain and surprise as she fell over backwards, rolling over onto her side as she tried to blink the broken shards of her tinted glasses from her eyes. Rubbing at her burned skin and tugging at her singed and smoking hair, her body began to emit a dark black and purple aura, her skin beginning to prickle and ripple as if something was trying to burst out from within her. There was a deep, beast-like growl crawling out of her throat, as well as several curses spoken in a language that I didn't know.

My stomach was beginning to do nervous flops and I felt like I was going to vomit, but Dracomon didn't seem as bothered. Maybe because he knew what was going on while I had not the slightest clue. Tapping him on the head, I gestured to the lady and made a small '…what?' noise. Every word that I knew had high-tailed it a while ago, fearing for its life like I knew I should've been. And it didn't really help when Dracomon 'explained', "She's really mad. She's gonna change bodies so that it's easier to kill us."

_…Oh, gee. That's great._ I groaned quietly when Arukenimon's human-like body contorted and she laughed maniacally before being encased by light that sent a static-like sensation into the air around us. Dracomon hadn't said she was digivolving, so she probably wouldn't get any stronger, but the shock factor that her new…form had was…quite the advantage.

She looked like what the lovechild of a human and a spider would be: Creepy, ugly, and gross as hell. Her torso was human, but she had the legs and abdomen of a giant red spider. She was almost too tall for the room, only a few inches of space left between the top of her horned head and the ceiling. A grin was plastered on her face, and I wouldn't have cared all that much if her mouth wasn't filled with shark-like teeth ready to tear me to bits.

_…Maybe I should've thought this through a bit more… _

Seeing the fear on my face, the spider demon grinned devilishly. "You don't seem as eager to fight as before. Has the Dragon Soul decided to surrender already?" My fingers trembled slightly as I let my body go loose, taking a fighting stance. Was I afraid? Undoubtedly. But was I anywhere near surrender just yet? Not a chance. Fear by itself wasn't enough to stop me.

"I'm gonna make you stop calling me that…" I growled tenaciously, my voice quiet but steady and unwavering. Strong enough to hide my confusion and fear. "I'm not what you think that I am—I'm not what any of these people think I am, and I don't want to be what they think I am! How can they know who I am when I haven't got a clue?!" I started to take a step forward, aiming for a takedown move, but was caught off-guard by a single wave of Arukenimon's wide hand.

For a moment, I thought that she was going to hurt Mrs. Sasaki again, and I tried to prepare myself for the sickening snap and the horrid scream, but nothing came. Rapid steps pounded the floor, and by the time I realized what was going on it was too late for me to do anything. The Dokugumon has regrouped while I was distracted by my conversation with Arukenimon, and they were ready to go on the offensive again.

But not against me. "Sumi-chan!" Dracomon called out my name as the spider Digimon surrounded him, snapping at his tail with every twitch that it made, others attempting to catch him in their webs. The dragon was fast enough to evade their attempts, but he couldn't last very long when there were so many of them going after him at once. He gave me a pleading look, and I answered without a second thought.

I abandoned my little showdown with the scarlet arachnid in favor of helping my friend, but hadn't made it more than two steps before I found myself thrust up against the wall by the enemy I'd momentarily ignored. Arukenimon's huge hands (at least the length of my torso from the tips of her fingers to her wrist) crushed my body as they suspended me off the ground. I had to keep her disgusting grin and disturbing, unblinking stare away from me by holding her head back by the horns that protruded from both sides of her head.

Amber irises were lost in a sea of black as her pupils dilated, staring at me so hard that I thought her eyes might pop right out of her head. She let out a sigh while pressing a thick finger against my neck, using another to tug my hair back so she could see my face better, and I had to hold my breath to keep from vomiting at her smell. It was like rotten road-kill and old tennis shoes, but that smell had mixed together with that of an old perfume that must've been used to try to conceal the stench. But of course that only made it much worse.

Her shark-like teeth appeared even more deadly this close up, and I put more effort into pushing her head away once her smile revealed them. I tried to put my leg up to kick her backward, but the bottom of her cream-hued palm was pressed tightly against my hip, so I was unable to swing my leg in a way that would actually do anything if it did hit her. Arukenimon chuckled at my sad attempts to defend myself and I scowled darkly.

"I should kill you," A large, pointed finger bent and traced its way from my temple down my face to my jawline, tugging at my eyelid slightly when it got there. Her smile had faded slightly and there was a loathsome envy buried deep in her dark gold eyes. "You're cuter than me, maybe prettier, too. I can't stand by and let a girl like you live to make any use of it." A deep frown replaced her smile for a moment, as if she were close to changing her mind about not killing me.

Scoffing at her words, I tried to resituate myself under her hand. "Well that's not very hard to do when you look like you came crawling out of a horror movie—" Her frown turned deadly as she pressed her fingers hard against my neck and skull, wordlessly but easily silencing me. I couldn't breathe for a moment and all of the colors blended together in the most threatening way, but it lasted only a second or two. Arukenimon lessened the pressure and her voice turned black as a cavern at the bottom of the sea.

"You're the one who crawled out of a horror film, Dragon Soul…" I thought about making a comment but decided at the last second that it would probably be better that I didn't. "And that's why you're lucky enough to win a penny's worth of my mercy. I won't kill you yet, but until you fully submit to me…" A greenish mist began to seep from her mouth as her smile slowly returned; the gas burned quickly through my shirt sleeves and singed my arms, making it harder and harder to hold back Arukenimon's head. "I'll have to at least maim you."

Dracomon was shouting my name again, trying to get to me and slamming his tail as hard as he could into the Dokugumon in order to do so. But most of them were more prepared for his attacks this time and were quick to either evade him or get back up onto their feet. The moment that they realized how much easier it would be to go after him as a mob instead of one or two at a time, they all jumped on him at once and he was lost in a sea of dark flesh and fangs.

"Dracomon—" I grunted, flinching as my head was shoved roughly against the wall again by Arukenimon's palm. The great spider beast wasn't about to let me get away, and her horrifically wide mouth opened up enough to swallow my entire head, making each and every single one of her razor-like teeth completely bare before me. I swallowed hard and turned my face away with eyes closed tight, shielding them from both the sight and the burning sensation that the acid mist gave off even from the back of her throat.

I struggled against the force that crushed me, tried to kick her away, shove her horned head away from me, but I wasn't strong enough to move her more than a few inches. Every second that passed, the stinging pain grew with every breath, more and more until I thought that I could smell my flesh burning. _This…could I really lose to this creature with such high stakes…?_

My temple pressed tight to the wall to get as far from Arukenimon as possible, I cracked my eyes open a sliver. The sight that I was met with turned my insides cold, as if I'd been out in a blizzard for too long or had been frozen solid. Mrs. Sasaki was on the floor perhaps a bit more than a meter away, laying crumpled and broken in several places on the white-webbed floor. Blood was dripping down from her silvering hairline, bruises forming on her cheek and neck. I couldn't tell if she was breathing or not.

Mrs. Sasaki…and Dracomon…they both had been so good to me, good to everyone. Mrs. Sasaki had taken me in when I had nowhere else I could go to get away from my mother and Nemoto, nowhere I could go where Dracomon would be safe and I might not have to hide him anymore. Mom had told me to get rid of him four years ago, and I'd been able to hide him for a while, but…but I couldn't do that to him. And Mrs. Sasaki…from the first moment that she'd met him…

She accepted him. Accepted me.

She had her faults, her bad days, just as everyone did, but I couldn't ignore the goodness in her. That woman had been so afraid of Dracomon for the first few days, but she'd grown to love him in a mere month because she'd strived to get to know him. She actually _tried_—something that many people didn't do when they were faced with a relationship that didn't come easily to them. Something my mother had never done.

And Dracomon…my best friend, who had been my only friend during my elementary years…he always stood beside me. Not once had I ever heard him complain all those years that he'd needed to stay hidden, when he'd had to hide in the dark all day and I had to sneak about just to feed him and spend time with him. He was just happy to be with me, and I was unable to say the same about anyone else.

"And that's why…" I turned my head slowly back to face Arukenimon's menacing teeth and scorching, acid breath. "I'm going to make sure you pay for what you've done to them…" Without thinking hardly at all, I released one of the red spider's horns and grabbed her slimy tongue, startling her enough to get her to cease her attack and stare at me in bewilderment.

In her surprise, her grasp on me had lessened enough for me to shimmy down enough to the point where my hip was free to move. Using this to my advantage before she realized what was going on, I swung my leg up and drove my knee hard into her pale jawline, enjoying her cry of pain a bit too much. She dropped me like I'd scorched her hand and I thudded onto the ground with an unprepared grunt.

Panting and staring at the spider queen as she rubbed her swelling jaw, trying to figure out what had happened, I tried not to think about what I'd narrowly escaped from. "Sumi-chan! If you're not busy, I could use a hand!" Snapping back to reality at my friend's nervous voice, I jumped to my feet and ignored the shaking in my knees as I rushed to the dragon's aid. Leaping into the air with a small battle cry, I spun around mid-air and sent my bare foot crashing into one of the Dokugumon, knocking him off of my Digimon and into the wall.

I was just rearing back to attempt another punch at one that had snapped at me when my arm was caught with webs that sliced into my skin like scissors, stinging and drawing blood. Turning my head back slightly, my eyes widened in fear when I saw Arukenimon, but my sight was stolen from me for a moment when more webs were sent flying at me, cutting my face and body. The rapidness from the attack had caught me off-guard and I stumbled back, falling backward into the wall next to the open door.

I dropped to the ground biting back a cry of pain, feeling a burning sensation creeping up my leg from my ankle. When I raised the leg of my jeans to look, I saw that blood was beginning to seep down from a cut on my shin made by the webs, but nothing appeared wrong with my foot at the moment. I knew I'd twisted it or something, I'd done it before, but not during something like this. All of these wounds…they didn't feel normal to me. It was all…different somehow.

They hurt like hell, yeah, but…it was like I couldn't avoid them no matter what I did. Why was Arukenimon so much stronger than me? Why could she recover from my offensive tactics so much faster than what I could from hers? Why…why did it feel like I had no chance of winning against this scarlet demon?

The silver-haired spider chuckled darkly as she approached me, her voice laced with silk and malice. I put my good leg up and braced it against the fluffy red and black hair of her abdomen, keeping her at bay as well as I could. "You're not as strong as I thought you'd be; if I didn't know any better, I'd say that you're not even the one that I'm supposed to find. But you must be with that Holy Ring—"

"So what if I've got it?" I shifted my foot a bit, my body and voice trembling at the effort of keeping her away, though I knew that she was barely pushing against me. "Maybe it's special in your world, but it's not here in mine. It's only important to me because it's all I've got to remember my dad; it's not something that means I've got 'powers' or whatever else you think is different about me. But I'm not different…not because of that…"

_How I'm different…how am I different, then? What's wrong with me…?_ I lowered my gaze from her burning stare, looked instead at the webs that were swaying due to a draft. I'd had that feeling for such a long time…Dracomon thought that we'd worked it out of my system over these past few years, but…I couldn't let it go. No matter what I said to him, or Arukenimon, or even Mrs. Sasaki…

There was something that wasn't right about me, wasn't _normal_. And I loathed that.

"I…" The hand gripping my wounded arm began to tremble, and I could feel my soul baring itself before Arukenimon's evil. It was as if there was something about the darkness of another's soul that made me feel…safe enough to talk about this. "It's not like I did anything to make them hate me…I stay away from people because they don't want me around…I mean, I don't mind being alone sometimes, but…I don't…" _I don't want to be this lonely anymore. I don't want to be afraid that I'll feel this way forever._

Everything seemed to freeze around us; the Dokugumon, Dracomon, as well as Arukenimon. I heard Dracomon mutter my name with concern and sadness, but I didn't look at him. A single thud was made when one of the spider-Digimon shoved him to the ground in his trance, his crimson eyes gripping onto me as if he had his scaly arms wrapped around me. I was sure that he would've if the dragon would've if he wasn't trapped in a spider-dog-pile.

My gaze snapped up from the floor when the red Digimon that had me cornered began to giggle quietly, the sound growing steadily until it filled the entire room. Her horrible eyes stared at me with dark intent as her saw-like smile stretched almost to her ears. "At least you're not living in complete denial, Dragon Soul, but I'm sure you'll come full-circle soon enough.

"But until then…" Her hand shot down and grabbed me around the upper torso before I could scream, some of her pale flesh covering my mouth and smothering whatever part of a shout I'd been able to manage. Reacting was out of the question when Arukenimon's speed was involved; before I had a second to do anything, I found myself being thrown across the room, crashing into the far wall. My head hit the ground hard, and I felt the solid thud it made more than I heard it. "You lose."

I groaned at the white-hot and ringing pain that pounded through my head as I tried to get up, needing to prove her wrong, needing to win this. I couldn't let Arukenimon win; she'd stay true to her word and take me away from this world so a place I didn't belong in, she'd take me from Dracomon and Mrs. Sasaki, take me from them so I couldn't help them. And if she'd ever needed my help, Mrs. Sasaki especially needed it now. And Dracomon…

But my arms gave out underneath me and I hit the ground again. Black began to crawl into my vision as Arukenimon's giggle bit through the darkness and clawed at my ears, joined by sounds of struggling between Dracomon and the Dokugumon. Colors were beginning to blend together so I wasn't sure what I was looking at anymore when I glanced slowly around the room, but I was pretty sure that Arukenimon was drawing closer, saying something in that condescending tone of hers.

I wasn't sure what she was saying, but I heard the word 'kill' a lot for sure, and she mentioned me, Dracomon, and Mrs. Sasaki, too. However, I didn't have to know what she was saying to know that it wasn't good. _Come on..._ My thoughts spun viciously in my brain as I struggled to force my body to get back into the fight. _I can't give up now! Bones, muscles, mind—come on! My will alone isn't enough, I need everything!_

But I couldn't get my body to rise; I couldn't move except for the shuddering of my muscles as they tried to obey my throbbing brain. Everything was beginning to fade now, sounds, feelings, the scent of insect and burning and blood, everything was fading into the darkness. The last thing that I heard was Dracomon's voice, so deep and determined that even in my current state, I could never forget it, "Sumi-chan won't go back to that world until she wants to! Sumi-chan needs to understand before she goes back; I need to say I'm sorry before she goes back…so I won't let you take her!"

* * *

A pounding in my head began, like a drummer after having a few too many coffees, when several bangs and thuds sounded from all areas of the room. Footsteps were like atomic bombs going off right beside my head, but the voice that I heard saying my name was distant and fuzzy. There were two, actually; one of the speakers brushed a hair back from my face and my curiosity grew stronger than the pain. I had to know who was here with me.

I regretted it the moment that I tried to open my eyes, but I forced them open and was just in time to see several men in reflective yellow and white uniforms carrying Mrs. Sasaki out of the room on a stretcher. My gaze followed them for a moment before my attention was caught by someone much closer. He looked sort of familiar, and he was saying something to someone very close by my head.

As things began to become clearer and clearer to my un-fogging mind, I realized that I was laying on my back on the floor of Mrs. Sasaki's room, now barren of all spider Digimon and webs. My head was resting against Yoshi Fujieda's knees; her hands were on either side of my head, keeping it from leaning awkwardly to the side. I looked up at her and she smiled brightly. "She's awake!"

Thinking it strange for her to say something like that to herself, I searched for someone that she could be talking to. I felt my heart leap from surprise when my gaze was met by Marcus Damon's grinning face. "Finally!" I stared at the boy's enigmatic but light-filled face for a moment before quickly looking away. I gulped; why did I have to feel and act so _stupidly_ around him? He was no different than any other boy, aside from the Digimon thing.

I inwardly groaned at my own incompetence, but neither Marcus nor Yoshi seemed to notice. Marcus glanced up at the magenta-haired girl as he said, "Yoshi, I'm gonna go make sure that nothing got left behind when Arukenimon ran off. Think you can get Masumi down to the paramedics, or do you want me to carry her?" My face flushed a bright red and all darkness and haziness fled from my mind and body. There was no way that boy was going to carry me out of here like an injured fawn.

"I'm…I'm fine!" I spat as I sat up, though it took a bit more effort than what I'd been anticipating. My back was aching and my ankle was burning; the cuts and bruises that were basically all over my body all were sore and red. It was at times like these when I wished I was a better actress—but lying would do. "I can get there myself; I'm not that hurt." To prove that to them, I rose to my feet—er, foot. I couldn't put any pressure on my swollen ankle without making the pain obvious and ruining my cover.

Aside from the chatter of the paramedics and police in the room with us, it was silent as I stared hard at Marcus. He seemed surprised as how vehemently I'd declined assistance, but before he could say anything about it, his phone made a small beeping noise. "It's Marcus…" The brunette answered, turning away from our heated staring contest for a moment. It was quiet for a moment, and then he ended the call with a soft 'click' noise.

"Thomas," He explained briefly when Yoshi asked about the call. "He's still getting Digimon signals all over the place, so he's going to go talk with the neighbors again to see if they saw anything else. Agumon and I are gonna take a look around and take care of anything Arukenimon left behind," Marcus cast me one last glance before turning to walk out of the room in front of some policeman. I caught a mischievous grin as it crossed his face. I scowled slightly, but I wasn't sure if it was because of him or me.

My heart was pounding as hard as my head was, the tempo high and uncontrolled. The thoughts that rushed around my head ranged from one extreme to another, each one more infuriating and irritating than the next. While my heart was ready to swoon over the brunette, what with his bright eyes and contagious smile, maybe hunt him down after all of this crap settled down more, my mind was lecturing me about how stupid and pathetic that would be, how humiliating it was to like somebody. How easy it was to be let down.

I scoffed at how quickly the thoughts of romance had quieted. _Not so strong when faced with reality, are you, heart? _With my soul now silenced, I decided that now was as good a time as any to go see how Mrs. Sasaki was doing. Forgetting for a moment about my own injuries, I took a step forward with my hurt foot and nearly came crashing down to the floor when the searing pain tore through my body. I would've fallen if Yoshi hadn't grabbed me and made me lean on her.

Her voice was smiling as she started to lead me out of the room, holding one of my arms over her shoulders with one of hers wrapped around my back. "You're even more bullheaded than I thought, refusing help that you clearly need. Is it pride with you, or what?" Ruefully, I leaned heavily on her shoulder as we started down the steps. I was keeping a tense lookout for Dracomon; he wouldn't let himself be seen, I knew, but I needed to know where the hell he was. Yoshi's question barely registered in my ears.

"No, that's not it," I murmured as we neared the bottom of the steps, passing by a pair of policemen that were checking for evidence. I wasn't sure what the DATS agents had told them to hide the fact that Digimon had been present, but it must've been good to completely pull the wool over their eyes. "I just don't want your help—" _I don't want to foolishly depend on someone and give them the chance to tear me apart._ "—and you can be sure that nothing like this will ever happen again where I'll need it."

The young adult didn't respond with anything more than rolling her eyes and wearing an almost amused smile, like she found my hostility to be entertaining in a way. I guessed that, being in this line of work, she often had to deal with people like me, so it didn't bother her as much as it might've others. Or maybe she'd found my vehement denial of Marcus's help humorous in a way, how I'd stared him down as I had, daring him to even make a move to pick me up and carry me.

"How are you with teamwork, then?"

Her question startled me a little, and I gave her a confused glance as we walked—I was kind of hobbling, but still—out the front door. Yoshi waved away a paramedic when he came running over to get me, dismissively saying how I wasn't that banged up and that she would take care of me. The man seemed conflicted for a moment, but didn't argue. He hurried back to his fellow medics as Yoshi led me over to the DATS squad car, having me sit in the front seat while she tended to my injuries, her question still in the air.

But I wasn't really sure what to tell her. There were plenty of opportunities during school for group projects and partner-work and what not, but I hardly ever took part in such things. It wasn't that I didn't want to be a part of a group, but…it was rare that someone wanted me in their group. It was like people were…intimidated by me, and maybe that was my own fault somehow. I wasn't exactly approachable most of the time, and it was far from the truth to say that I exerted a friendly aura.

But still…it was like something…_beyond_ that.

"…I'm okay, I guess," I finally replied, shrugging my shoulders slightly as she came back from the trunk of the car with a first-aid kit. I felt my face flush and I looked away from the other girl. "I…I'm just not the kind of person who—" A hiss of pain cut my explanation short; Yoshi was working on taking off my socks and shoes so that she could get a better idea of what happened with my ankle. Her mind wasn't here with us at the moment, so she wasn't exactly being as gentle as she could be.

Struggling against the urge to shove her away, I muttered to her in a harsh but quiet voice, "I'd really prefer that my foot stays connected and useful to the rest of my body, if you don't mind…" The throb was intense after she'd bared my foot, but it began to dull slowly when she held an icepack against the swelled flesh. I sighed through my nose; it actually felt much better than what I'd thought it would.

Having ignored my previous comment, Yoshi went back to my answer to her question. "Well, when you _are_ in a group, what do you do? Can you follow orders, or are you more the type to give them?" I gave her an inquisitive look, but she ignored it and waited for my response. I didn't understand why she was asking me all of this. Shouldn't she be asking stuff about what happened with Arukenimon or something?

Thinking both about how to answer and why she was asking, I turned my gaze away from her and looked around the yard. Thomas was close by with some policemen, probably close enough that if he listened hard enough he would be able to hear us. I heard one of the men say that there had been some kind of 'out-of-this-world' disturbance that had alarmed one of the neighbors to the point that he called the police. Before the man had even finished speaking, Thomas's pale eyes had turned curiously to me.

I quickly looked down, now understanding what was going on. Sampson wanted me in DATS, and would undoubtedly add me to their trio. Thomas and Yoshi wanted to know what kind of a person would be—more like _wouldn't_ be—joining their team. A deep frown now set into my face at this new knowledge, I responded with a question of my own. "Will he…will Sampson _force_ me to join DATS?"

Yoshi looked up at me with surprise at first, but then her eyes softened and she glanced down at my black and blue ankle. She thought for a moment, opening and closing her mouth as she tried to think of the best way to get her thoughts across. Finally, she told me, "No, he won't. He'll strongly encourage, and we will, too, but…you don't have to.

"Sampson knows better than anyone how much of a risk is involved with a job like this. We fight Digimon that come into this world to cause chaos, and sometimes we go to the Digital World to help the Digimon there. It's a dangerous job, but somebody's got to do it, you know? It's one of those things were if you had the choice, most people would take a glance at one of our missions and be out of there faster than a cat at the vet—"

"Or Yoshi at the optometrist," Yoshi's face turned red at the sound of what I assumed to be her partner's high-pitched but not irritating voice. The wine-eyed girl growled something at her Digimon friend in a tone as dark as the blush on her face. I smiled a little at the scene and Yoshi shot me a warning look that only made my grin bigger.

Yoshi stood from her kneeling position and took my arm, disinfecting the flesh before beginning to wrap it up in gauze. "Ignore Lalamon, please. If she thinks she's funny, which she's _not_—" She added that part more for the Digimon than for me. "—then she's just going to keep making bad and _untrue_ jokes." There was a small grin playing on her face, like she really didn't mean what she said, and I didn't have to know her very well to know that was true. Good friends often poked fun at one another because of how good of friends they were; they both knew not to take it to heart.

Thinking of friends reminded me again of Dracomon and where he might be at the moment. No one had come running and screaming out of the house yet, so he obviously hadn't been found yet if he was hiding in there. The little creature probably wouldn't have gone that far to hide if he wasn't in the house, but I didn't see any other place that he could be hiding that was close by. There were some bushes in front of one of the neighboring houses, but they appeared completely undisturbed, so it was unlikely that he was there.

My heart stopped when a horrifying thought wandered into my brain. Was there any chance that Arukenimon had taken Dracomon back to the Digital World with her? Did she think that maybe if she took him, I'd come running after to try to get him back? If that was what she was thinking, not to mention what happened, then she was absolutely right. I _had_ to go get him back! He was my best friend after all, wasn't he? Of course I'd go get him!

I knew better than to mention my thoughts to Yoshi, though. Instead, I asked her about something else that had been troubling my mind, "Hey, did you find out how Mrs. Sasaki's doing? I saw that they took her out of the room upstairs on a stretcher, but I didn't really see her or hear anything that they said about her…" Yoshi sighed a little as she started to pack up the medical supplies.

"It was a miracle that she was still alive when the paramedics got there. She has all kinds of cuts and bruises, her arm was savagely broken, and her spine was broken in two places, not to mention of the mental and emotional damage she must've taken from the experience. She was starting to slip into a coma when they got her in the ambulance to take her to the hospital. I don't know how she's doing now, though." Concern softened her fair face. "Are you okay?"

Knowing she meant other than my physical well-being, I averted my gaze as I lied, "Yeah, I'm fine," Yoshi kept her eyes on me, not sure if she wanted to believe me or not. I couldn't look back at her without betraying my true thoughts. "If you have other DATS-things to go and do, you can. Really, I'm okay." I returned my gaze to her and we locked eyes for a moment before she glanced back at Thomas. He looked back and they exchanged a few thoughts just through their expressions. Thomas nodded and started walking towards one of the neighboring houses.

Yoshi turned back to me with a hand on her hip, cleared her throat and said, "Well, if you're doing all right, then I should go with Thomas to talk with the neighbor who called for help in the first place…" She paused for a moment, then continued as she started to turn to hurry after Thomas. "Don't go anywhere, okay? I'm going to want to clear some stuff up with you after we finish up with the guy who called the police." Without another word, she dashed after the blonde, leaving me alone with my true feelings.

And I was most definitely not okay.

Mrs. Sasaki was so incredibly injured that she could be near death at the moment, or she might want to be once she was conscious enough to recall the horrors she'd gone through. She would have to spend countless hours in physical therapy, and that was assuming that she'd be able to move at all after those breaks in her spine. She'd be beyond lucky to recover from that. And her mind…

"This is all my fault…" I dropped my face into my hands, and the rough feeling of the gauze wrapped around my hand and wrist make me feel worse rather than better. Sure, I'd tried my best to fight Arukenimon and the Dokugumon, but my best had been nowhere near enough even with Dracomon with me. I wasn't strong enough as a human; where was all that power that Arukenimon had been talking about? I'd never felt any of it!

And Dracomon…now thanks to my weakness, he was gone. Arukenimon had to have taken him back to the Digital World after she'd beaten me, hoping that I'd come chasing after him._…Wait. _I raised my head up from my hands, resting my fingers lightly against my mouth as I thought._ That doesn't make any sense at all. If she beat me…she would've just taken me and probably killed Dracomon so that _he_ wouldn't come after _me_…but then where the hell is—_

My pondering was interrupted when the head of the very dragon that I'd been worried about peeked around the side of the car. "Sumi-chan!" He half-whispered as he ran to my side, jumping onto the floor of the car beside me so he could hide in the shadows and not be seen by the other people. Bright red eyes smiled at me and his little red wings flickered slightly as he contentedly grasped my unhurt arm. But his smile faded quickly. "…Why are you crying, Sumi-chan?"

Shocked at his question, my fingers flew to my cheek and I felt the tears streaming down from my eyes like little rivers. I brushed them away quickly, but more kept coming. "I…I was just so…" I laughed bitterly, though it sounded much more like sobbing, and flung my arms around the scaly teal creature. "I was so afraid…that you were gone…Where were you?" I let him go enough that I could look him in the eyes, but kept him close.

"Well, after you fell unconscious, I was fighting Arukenimon but she was too strong and threw me against a dresser and I passed out. When I woke up, I was afraid that I wasn't going to see you, but you were still laying on the ground and all the webs were gone. There were sirens outside and bright red and blue and white lights, and Yoshi was holding you and trying to wake you up, while Marcus was by me saying that I had to get up and hide before—Marcus!" I looked up at the Digimon's outburst and saw the brunette coming over to us; he smiled at Dracomon's excitement.

Remembering the tears on my face, I hurriedly brushed them away as he neared us. "Hey," He said almost casually while leaning against the side of the car by me. Hazel eyes looked me up and down, but not in a condescending way, more like he was seeing how banged up I was. Appearing somewhat relieved, Marcus's eyes met mine in a way that almost felt soft. I looked away quickly, face slowly turning pink. "You seem better. How do you feel?"

I sighed quietly. That question was much more to me than what Marcus was probably hoping for. For him, it was probably just an 'okay', 'good', or 'not so great' kind of question/answer. But to me, it wasn't only that. And honestly, I couldn't group how I felt into any of those three categories. What I was feeling right now was bigger than all of those things combined. I was guilty and upset and angry and sad all at once, and more than that: I'd let Mrs. Sasaki and Dracomon down.

"…I should've been able to stop her…" I muttered almost inaudibly, surprising myself by allowing my guilty thoughts to slip from my heart and into the air. I clenched my hands into fists at the thought of her face; I wished hard for a chance to kick in the face one more time. "I…because we can't digivolve like you guys, I…I fought her with the stuff I know from judo, mainly, but…it wasn't enough…I wasn't good enough…"

There was a heavy silence between us, and I felt my face flush an even darker shade of red. I knew that I should've have said anything, I knew that he would think that I was either a fool for doing what I had or not even believe me at all. I waited with a heart weighted down with soreness and hurt, waited for him to scold me for 'doing something so dangerous' or for 'thinking with my heart and not my head'.

"You…you fought a Digimon? A _Champion-Level_ Digimon?" I started to open my mouth to tell him to shut up, go to hell, or something like that, but was shocked into silence when a huge grin lit up his face and he laughed. Looking up at him with confused eyes, I thought for a moment that he didn't believe me, but was quickly proven wrong. "You fought a Digimon like that all by yourself and only came out with a few cuts and a sprained ankle? Your first ever fight with a Digimon, and _those_ kinds of results upset you? Ha! For not fighting Digimon at all, I think you did pretty great!"

I blushed at his praise and looked away, feeling sort of embarrassed, but better. I would've told most people to shut up by now, said that they were just saying that to say it and didn't really mean it at all, but Marcus…he really seemed to mean it. It was so genuine, like the way that he was smiling at me. He was truly being honest with me. "A lot of other people wouldn't have fought back like that, so you should be proud. Things could've gone a lot worse if you hadn't, you know."

I lowered my gaze even further at his words, now staring at my feet, but a smile was tugging at the corners of my mouth. Marcus was right, no matter how much I wanted to brush off his words and rubbish and say that he didn't really think that. I wanted to say that he was lying and that things couldn't have possibly gone worse, but…I knew just as well as he that they could've. And my actions had made a difference in the outcome.

"…Yeah…I didn't beat her, but I kept her from doing all the harm that she'd planned to," I smiled at the ground for a moment more before getting enough courage to turn to Marcus. The brunette's grin made my heart flutter, but I did my best to ignore it. "At least now she knows that not all humans are going to submit so easily."

Marcus chuckled. "That's for sure. I mean, you got her to go running off like you tried to set her on fire or something!" A blank look crossed his face. "Oh, that reminds me…" He tugged a light brown, floral-print blanket from over his shoulder; I recognized it as one that Mrs. Sasaki owned. I had been too nervous to look at him all that closely, so I hadn't even realized he had it with him. "I thought you might get cold sitting out here, so I brought this for you." He held it out to me in a fist, and I hesitantly took it from him.

Blushing, I tried desperately to ignore the butterflies building in my stomach as I wrapped it around my shoulders. It was rather cold out, but I hadn't thought much about it due to all the other things that had haunted my mind. "…Thanks, Damon…" I murmured quietly, trying to think of something else to say before an awkward silence set in but coming up empty. Dracomon was apparently appreciative of the blanket as well, since I felt him pull some of it down to cover him, too.

Thankfully, I was saved from a possible silence by Thomas and Yoshi returning. "Find out anything?" Marcus asked them as they came over and stopped in front of the two of us. There was a distant look on Thomas's face as he thought about what they must've been told, and Yoshi wasn't acting much different than he. She seemed just as confused as the blonde, but it didn't appear to bother her as much.

Yoshi was the one to answer. "We spoke with the man who'd first called the police for help, which he did a few minutes before we arrived on the scene. He told us that he was woken from his sleep by his car alarm going off, so he got up to go and turn it off, but when he did he saw a bright flash of blue light come from the upstairs window—the room where you and Mrs. Sasaki were, Masumi. He said that he heard something that…he said it was like a beast's roar, like a lion, but not quite.

"After the roar he heard, all kinds of electrical appliances in his house started to act strangely, like turning on and off on their own and some even short-circuited. The power then flashed on and off for a moment all over the neighborhood, he said, and all the other car alarms were going off now as well. Then…" She paused for a moment. "Then when the light went away, everything was quiet again…"

A startled silence muted everyone, and I lowered my head into my hands again. I wanted so badly to recall any part of that, but I couldn't and didn't. I didn't remember hearing anything roar aside from Dracomon, or even a car alarm, and I most certainly didn't recall any lights aside from the glow of the moon. Dracomon hadn't mentioned anything about it either; he said that we'd both blacked out. _So…what was there with us? What saved us from Arukenimon?_

"I'm not sure what exactly went on, but I have a theory," Thomas's calm voice broke the silence in a way that no one else would've been able to do. I listened carefully as he spoke, but his hypothesis didn't seem quite right to me. "Dracomon's want to protect Masumi and Mrs. Sasaki, even when he was unconscious, must've been so great that he was able to project some kind of energy force into reality, and that must've scared Arukenimon off.

"But if that's really the case, then Arukenimon's bound to get her guts about her and come back to reclaim her glory." The intelligent blonde's words made up my mind in a hurry, doing so with such speed that it barely even registered in my brain. All my wonderings and questions had been answered with those simple words. Part of me was unsure why, but the part that did was so convinced that the other side went along with it.

I pulled the ear phone that Sampson had given me out of my pocket and looked down at it as it rested lifelessly in my palm. But 'lifeless' wasn't quite right, was it? This represented my life at the moment, it represented that I had a choice to make right now. I couldn't choose tomorrow, I couldn't choose later tonight, and I most certainly couldn't choose a week or even a few days from now. I had to make my decision now.

My father had made his decision, even though I didn't remember why he had chosen like he had. But maybe I'd remember if I followed in his footsteps, maybe I'd remember then. And not only would I remember what I should never have forgotten, but I'd also learn how to better protect Mrs. Sasaki, how to fight better with Dracomon so that we'd never lose to someone like Arukenimon again, someone that we should've been able to beat. We'd be able to digivolve.

I sighed; _I know what I have to do._ I hit the call button on the phone and held it up to my ear, ignoring Dracomon and Thomas when they asked what I was doing. I knew that they'd figure it out soon enough. I heard the noise when the other line received me, and Sampson's deep voice sounded, but I didn't let him get much more than a syllable in before I was cutting him off.

"Sampson…I'm in."


End file.
